A 2010 DOCTRINAL SERIES BY DERRICK GILLESPIE

PRE-1915 SDA PIONEERS DEBUNK MODERN SDA ANTI-TRINITARIANS- Part 2

In 1913 a statement of some of the points of our SDA faith was published on page 21 of the October 9 edition of The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. The following is the section important for our study, revealing quite clearly how modern SDA anti-Trinitarians are debunked by our own historical records regarding what Adventist came to believe WHILE MRS WHITE WAS STILL ALIVE:

"For the benefit of those who may desire to know more particularly the cardinal features of the faith held by this denomination, we shall state that Seventh-day Adventists believe, -

1. In the divine Trinity. This Trinity consists of the eternal Father, a personal, spiritual being, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite in power, wisdom, and love; of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal Father, through whom all things were created, and through whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the one regenerating agency in the work of redemption..."

AS SAID IN PART 1, IT IS NO SECRET TO THOSE WHO ARE PROPERLY INFORMED THAT EARLY SD ADVENTISTS LARGELY BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS NO TRINITY, AND

THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS NOT A PERSON OR "THIRD PERSON OF THE GODHEAD" BUT JUST AN INFLUENCE OR POWER FROM GOD. THEY ALSO FELT THAT A BELIEF IN ANY SO-CALLED "TRINITY" WAS A VESTIGE OF PAGANISM AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM. HOW COULD THERE NOW BE SUCH A MARKED CHANGE IN ADVENTIST BELIEF BY 1913? BELOW I WILL SHARE WITH YOU ANOTHER SDA PIONEERING ARTICLE REVEALING FROM AS EARLY AS 1900 THAT ADVENTISTS STARTED TO BELIEVE IN THE "TRIUNE GOD"... THIS MEANS THAT THE GODHEAD IS OF SUCH THAT TO SEE CHRIST WAS TO SEE THE FATHER, AND TO ACCEPT THE SPIRIT WAS TO ACCEPT CHRIST, SINCE THEY ARE "BLENDED" TOGETHER AS IF THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME, THOUGH THEY ARE DISTINCT PERSONS. UPCOMING ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES WILL REVEAL QUITE THE SAME SENTIMENTS.

      "BLENDED PERSONALITIES"               

   [OF THE GODHEAD AND THE CHURCH].

The Kings Messenger, *“Blended Personalities”, Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 14, April 3, *1900, pg. 210

"To receive the message of the Spirit is to receive the message of the Father and the Son. There is something charmingly beautiful about their union. With exquisite delicacy of utterance does Jesus declare the divine authority of his message, " The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me;" and again, " The words that

I speak unto you I speak not of myself." He is ever in union with the Father, and came, really, that men might see the Father, and know his love. So the Holy Spirit cherishes the same delicacy of spirit and expression. He is the administrator, revealer, and guide of this age. And  as such he must make himself known and understood; but withal he does not speak from himself alone. He does not manifest himself as apart from the Father and the Son; but as one with and sent by the Father and the Son.

He is here that he may make us know the things of Christ, and any nominal honor given to the Spirit that does not really make known the character and things of Christ is a great grief to his unassuming, dovelike nature. He [the Spirit] would make us know his personality, but ever in living connection with Christ. He abides in our hearts down here, while Christ Jesus is our Advocate with the Father above; but he abides in us as Christ, making the very life that speaks and works in Christ to also speak and work in us. " Christ in you."

Let us not grow overbold concerning the Spirit alone; but remember that he is ever with the Father and the Son, and that whatever he speaks to us he speaks as from them; for it is written, "Whatsoever he hall hear, that shall he speak." Let him make you know, beloved, how surprisingly beautiful are the blended personalities of *our triune God, manifested by the personal presence of the Holy Ghost.

To know him is to know the Father and the Son, and these cannot be truly known and really honored until we receive and know the Spirit; for no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. And, furthermore, he would so unfold Christ in us, who are born of the Spirit, causing his life to actually flow through us, that our lives- are submerged and blended in the same oneness with the Father and the Son.

Blessed be God forever, for the gift of the Holy Ghost, by whose work we who are the body of Christ are perfected in union with our living Head. For as we allow self to be displaced, and he comes in, his personality and ours are blended more and more. Our life is inseparable from his, our thoughts are the impartation of his mind, our love is the

love of  God, and our works and words are the fruit of  his active life in us.

Let the blending process go on; be willing, yea, eager, to sink out of self into Christ.

-          The Kings Messenger, *“Blended Personalities”, Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 14, April 3, *1900, pg. 210