by - Barbara & Jack Barney 2008

“ Whom do ye say that I am?” “…Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered and said into him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven”
Matt. 16:15-17

Contents
2 Intro- Why this Study
3 How to Study Inspired Writings
3 What the Bible Teaches About the Personality of God and Christ
4 Was the Movement Established on a Solid Foundation?
4 Spirit of Prophecy Confirms Doctrinal Foundation
5 Pillar, Pin, Landmark, Platform, and Foundation Defined
7 What Advent Pioneers Taught on the Personality of God and Christ
9 1872 Statement of Fundamental Principles
10 Dr J. H. Kellogg and the Trinity
11 The Word “Trinity”
12 Does it Really Matter?
13 Satan’s Goal
13 Warning & Changes
16 Conclusion

Appendixes-
17 Godhead Versus Trinity
17 History of the Trinity
18 Ellen White’s Teaching on the Personality of God and Christ
20 Ellen G. White Estate- ‘Helpful Editing… Alterations… and Clarifications’…
21 Arius
21 Begotten From Everlasting, Not Just at Bethlehem
22 ‘From Eternity’ and ‘Everlasting’
23 Isaiah 9:6
24 Matthew 28:19
25 Life Original, Unborrowed, Underived
25 Is the Holy Spirit God?
26 Who is the Holy Spirit?
27 Who is the Comforter?
28 Third Person

A Sure FoundationAn overview of the teachings of the ‘Godhead’ and ‘Trinity’ in AdventismBy

Barbara & Jack Barney

“ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves,” Matt. 7:15. After saying this, Jesus tells about those in the end of time who will say: “Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” And then the saddest words ever spoken will be said, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity”:22, 23. Note: All italics are quotes, all underlining and bold script is used for emphasis. All personal pronouns related to divinity have been capitalized.
Jesus then gives one of His most familiar parables, the parable of the builders. There was the wise man, who when hearing Jesus words does them, and because of this his house was built upon a rock. When the rain, wind and floods came, beating upon his house, it did not fall because it was founded upon the rock, Christ Jesus.
But then there was another man spoken of, he was called the foolish man because he built his house upon the sand. This time when the rain wind and floods came, beating upon his house, it fell, and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:24-27.
We must use the principles in this parable for our investigation of the doctrine of the personality of God and Christ now commonly referred to today as the Godhead or the Trinity. We will see if our foundation is built on the Rock, Christ Jesus or on the sand of false doctrine. “What stronger delusion can beguile the mind than the pretense that you are building on the right foundation and that God accepts your works, when in reality you are working out many things according to worldly policy and are sinning against Jehovah” 8T 249.
In the mid 1800’s God raised up a movement, to give the Three Angel’s Messages to prepare the world for the soon coming of Jesus to again establish His kingdom that was designed for this earth, before sin entered in through the rebellion of Lucifer. Those used by God to establish this ‘movement of destiny’ were keen Bible scholars and earnestly entreated the leading of God through His Holy Spirit in the establishment of their doctrinal beliefs. God also confirmed these beliefs through the gift of inspiration given to Ellen White. This was no bunch of ignorant wide eyed dreamers, but rather men and women who were desperately desiring to do God’s will and finish the work they were given. They spent many hours day and night searching the Word of God, and God honored their faithfulness and sent them light from Heaven to confirm that what they had been studying was indeed truth that was to be given to a dying world.
One of these truths so graciously given to these pioneers of Adventism was the understanding of the Personality of God and Jesus. This was the basis of the Gospel, for Jesus had said that “this is life eternal that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” John 17:3.
So what was the understanding of the personality of God that the Seventh-day Adventist movement was founded upon in contrast with what is being taught today, and how did we get to this place of doctrinal inconsistency?
How to Study Inspired Writings
We have treated the writings of Ellen White like many other denominations have treated the Bible, taking only a few texts to establish their teachings such as Sunday sacredness, life after death, eternal torment, and the eating of foods that God forbids. By doing this they are not following the Bible ordained method of investigation which is the line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept principle. We must remember that new light will never contradict the original pillars of faith upon which this church was founded!
The same line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept principle is also true with the writings of Ellen White as it is with the writings of any prophet. She stated that “The testimonies themselves will be the key that will explain the messages given, as scripture is explained by scripture.” ...and “Regarding the testimonies, nothing is ignored; nothing is cast aside; but time and place must be considered” 1SM 42, 57. We have sometimes taken only one or just a few partial statements to prove a point or teaching from the Spirit of Prophecy. This is neither safe nor is it a biblically correct means of studying any subject and especially not of studying inspired writings to determine their true meaning. The whole weight of relevant evidence must be included in order to come to a right understanding of any subject. By quoting the Spirit of Prophecy either in ways that are truncated or in ways that would contradict its other testimony people have made Ellen White say things she did not intend (see 1SM 203, 204).
Ellen White stated that the third highest being in heaven was Lucifer, that God and Jesus alone were in the heavenly councils and that only God and Jesus deserved worship. So how then can the Holy Spirit be a co-eternal God? The harmonious response is to point out that Ellen White over and over wrote that the Holy Spirit was merely the personal presence and omnipresence of God and Christ and that it wasn't a separate sentient being of the God-head. Today the whole weight of evidence of her words has been discarded and she has been made to say that there is a God the Holy Spirit.
What the Bible Teaches About the Personality of God & Christ
Let us began our study in the Word of God. The following texts are the basis for our study on the personality of God and Christ.

God the eternal Father:
John 6:27, Galatians 1:1, Ephesians 6:23, Philippians 2:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:1,2: 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:17; 2 John 1:3; Jude 1:1.

The Divine Son of God, begotten of the Father in eternity:
Psalm 2:7; Proverbs 30:4; Daniel 3:25; Micah 5:2; Matthew 4:3,6; 8:29; 14:33; 26:63; 27:40,43; 27:54; Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luke 1:35; 4:3, 9,41; 8:28; 22:70; John 1:34,49; 3:16-18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4; 11:27; 19:7; 20: 31; Acts 8:37; 9:20; 2 Corinthians 1: 19; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 4:14; 1 John 3:8; 4:15; 5:5,10, 12, 13, 20; Revelation 2:18.

The Spirit of God (The Holy Spirit), the omnipresence of God and Christ:
Genesis 1:2; Genesis 41:38; Exodus 31:3; 35:31; Numbers 24:2; 3:16; 12:28; Psalms 51:11; Isaiah 63:10, 11; Luke 11:13; Romans 8: 9,14; 15:19; 1 Corinthians 2:11,14: 7:40; 12:3; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 1 John 4:2.

Was the Movement Established on a Solid Foundation?
Ellen White warned us that her writings would be misconstrued to mean things that she did not believe and that there would be those who would promote teachings that she did not support. Many misrepresented her writings in her day, and she warned that it would again happen after her death. Some are ashamed of the doctrinal pillars that this church was founded upon and are "improving" them. They go so far as to claim that she changed her philosophy regarding the personality of God and of Christ.

As any builder will tell you if the foundation is faulty you have nothing solid to build upon and the structure will surely collapse as a result. (Matt. 7:24-27) That is precisely what is happening today. It is believed by many that the church’s doctrinal foundation was faulty and because of this, the church leaders have attempted to remove the original pillars and replace them with a whole new foundation. That is just what Ellen White said would happen, a “new order of religion.” She said that nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new reorganization! (See 1SM 204, 205) So was the foundation faulty, or was God inspiring her to write that the foundation upon which the church was built was a solid foundation that has withstood the test of time, and is to stand until Jesus returns?
The Lord's Messenger said: “The enemy will set everything in operation to uproot the confidence of the believers in the pillars of our faith in the messages of the past, which have placed us upon the elevated platform of eternal truth, and which have established and given character to the work.” “Those whose hearts have not been broken by falling on the rock Christ Jesus… will begin to manufacture another foundation than that which is laid. They will flatter their own vanity and esteem, thinking that they are capable of removing the pillars of our faith, and replacing them with pillars they have devised” 2SM 388, 389 (1890).
Again she states, “I saw individuals approach the platform and examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the foundation. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform to examine it and declared it had been laid wrong. But I saw that nearly all stood firm upon the foundation and exhorted those who had stepped off to cease their complaints, for God was the Master Builder, and they were fighting Him.” Early Writings 258.
Both the Catholic Church leaders and SDA leaders state that the doctrine of the Trinity has to be accepted by faith, not by the Word of Inspiration. (RH Volume 158, #31, p.4.) Can you imagine that? We have come to accept a doctrine that is not in the Word of God! We are to be people of the Bible and the Bible only as Ellen White referred to it. We ‘pride’ ourselves in being God’s remnant and we have the truth regarding the Sabbath, the state of the dead, the 2300 days! Yet we are changing the foundation in other areas of our beliefs.
Spirit of Prophecy confirms doctrinal foundation
What does Ellen White say about present truth? “Through all these centuries the truth of God has remained the same. That which was truth in the beginning is truth now. Although new and important truths appropriate for succeeding generations have been opened to the understanding, the present revealings DO NOT CONTRADICT those of the past. Every new truth understood only makes more significant the old.” EGW- RH 3/2/86 :6; TMK 197.2
According to Ellen White, new truths are not supposed to contradict those of the past. Today, admittedly in Adventist publications we are being told that the founders could not be members because the fundamental beliefs now taught were not held by the early Adventists. For the answer to this change, we will review the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church doctrines.
In searching church history, we find what Ellen White wrote about the doctrinal pillars, landmarks, and pins (all relating to foundational teachings of the church). “Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid” (1SM 206 (1904)); we believe that this is a statement of supreme importance. She in another place wrote that it is very important that we understand the way God has led in our past history. Then she writes that we must realize that the church was founded upon eternal truth; so much so, that Ellen White stated not one pin or pillar was to be removed! See 1SM 206-208.
Then she went on to say, “What influence is it that would lead men at this stage of our history to work in an underhanded, powerful way to tear down the foundation of our faith—the foundation that was laid at the beginning of our work by prayerful study of the Word and by revelation? Upon this foundation we have been building for the past fifty years. Do not wonder that when I see the beginning of a work that would remove some of the pillars of our faith, I have something to say? I must obey the command, “Meet it”” Ibid.
“ Our position looks very clear; we know we have the truth”, said Ellen White, Record Book 1 p72, EGW letter, March 1849. The prophet has warned about departing from the truth in strong terms. “He who denies the personality of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, is denying God and Christ”. ‘If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father’, 1 John 2:24. “If you continue to believe and obey the truths you first embraced regarding the personality of the Father and the Son, you will be joined together with Him in love. There will be seen that union for which Christ prayed just before His trial and crucifixion.” RH 3/8/1906.
Let us now follow through to the conclusion of the topic of the personality of God and see how they affect certain great fundamentals, and let us watch to see how insidious are the small changes in their operation- how great is the iniquities wrought and yet how little they apparently change the great fundamentals while in fact they are entirely undermining the very fundamental teaching of who God really is and what the plan of salvation means to us.
Pillar, Pin, Landmark, Platform, and Foundation Defined
“ 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 Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto three, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:15-18. This text tells us that Christ Jesus is the Son of the living God and this is the foundation of the Christian church. Now we are taught a half truth that Christ is the foundation of the Christian church leaving out who Christ is, but the whole truth is that Christ is the Son of the living God, and that fact is the foundation of the Christian church.

There are questions by some as to what constitutes a foundation. There are those that use an Ellen White quote (MS 13, 1889; 1888 Materials, 518) to say that only the cleansing of the sanctuary, the three angel’s messages, the Temple of God in heaven and the ark containing the law of God, the Sabbath, and the non-immortality of the wicked.

Ellen White said that in her day they were already removing the foundations so we must ask which doctrine were they removing? Is there any record of removing the Sanctuary, the state of the dead, the three angel’s messages, or the Sabbath during her time or even now? We may note these may be overlooked, ignored or misrepresented, but I know of no official removing or changing of these as they are a part of the current fundamental beliefs.
A point should be noted about the three angel’s messages. The whole core of the message is who you worship. That is the first angel’s message, “Fear God, and give glory to Him, of the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters” Revelation 14:7. If you do not understand who God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God are, how could you possibly know who to worship? Now instead of worshiping two divine beings as scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy supports, the Adventist Church has added a third God.

Just because in this one quote this is all that is referred to, it does not mean that there are not other doctrines that were considered foundational teachings. The Catholics use Acts 15:20 in stating that only that which is in this text is foundational. However, this text says nothing about the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, the Resurrection or many other Christian foundational truths. The quote of Ellen White from 1888 materials also excludes these fundamental teachings, in addition it does not include the second coming of Jesus which is even part of the Adventist name. These are all very foundational truths. When the quote in 1888 materials was spoken by Ellen White, she merely stated nothing else came to mind at the time.

During the Kellogg era she clearly stated that the Personality of God or of Christ was as she said a pillar of our faith: “Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ, are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor” MR 760 p. 9 (1905). Here the personality of God and Christ, are on the same level as the sanctuary. The pillar holds up the foundation, and so it is the very core of what we should understand and believe.

For a landmark to be removed there has to be one established, and that was the first two statements in the Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Principles written by James White, that was unanimous in its approval and belief. Unanimous is defined in Webster’s as sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord. Many are trying to say today that James White, along with the other pioneers, was off the wall in their beliefs, and Ellen White was the lone voice of dissent. But isn’t it odd that during the whole lifetime of James White, Ellen White never rebuked him or anyone else for their belief on the personality of God? She rebuked so many others for wrong doctrines or actions, and was silent on this subject. That would either be gross error on her part, or what can be clearly understood when reading her writings, that she completely agreed with them in their understanding of this most basic foundational teaching. The foundation of all foundations is who we are to worship.

One final note on the quote in MR 760 is that some attempt to say this quote only referred to the Pantheism of Kellogg, and that Ellen White was merely saying that God was not a tree, etc. Even if that were true, she still said there was an old landmark regarding the doctrine of God and His Son. You cannot find a landmark doctrine anywhere about anti-Pantheism or anti-Spiritualism, it is rather that God is a person, and that God the Person is the Father only and that Christ was his actual divine Son. The way Ellen White stated this it does not show that it encompasses the whole doctrine. For Kellogg believed that the Holy Spirit was a third God and was in everything. Nothing is said about God the Father and His Son. Ellen White in reality was saying that there are only two divine beings and what they are like has been established and was correct!

“I entreat every one to be clear and firm regarding the certain truths that we have heard and received and advocated. The statements of God’s Word are plain. Plant your feet firmly on the platform of eternal truth. Reject every phase of error, even though it be covered with a semblance of reality, which denies the personality of God and of Christ” RH, 8/31/1905 :11. Note that this statement, the MR 760 reference and the 1872 fundamental principles that James White published were in harmony with the pioneers and Ellen White’s published writings until her death.

“When men come in who would move one pin or pillar from the foundation which God has established by His Holy Spirit, let the aged men who were pioneers in our work speak plainly, and let those who are dead speak also, by the reprinting of their articles in our periodicals” 1MR 55. Is this being done? No, the pioneers are considered not enlightened, Arian, and did not understand the Trinity teachings. In reality the writings have been neglected or changed. Church leaders claim that the Trinity teachings we now have is considered ‘new light,’ which the pioneers did not have.

What Advent Pioneers taught on the Personality of God & Christ
J. N. Andrews and James White were both in harmony with all the pioneers in believing that Christ was begotten/born of His Father, but not created. People need to understand that the trinity is the trinity. Many people claim that this trinity is different to that one and my one is different to his one, but at the end of the day they all agree that essentially God is composed of three, and that Christ was never begotten of His Father. It is this error that our pioneers countered and spoke against.

“The position of the remnant, 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.” James White, RH 9-12-1854
“The doctrine of the Trinity was established in the church by the council of Nicea, AD 325. This doctrine destroys the personality of God, and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The infamous, measure by which it was forced upon the church which appear upon the pages of ecclesiastical history might well cause every believer in that doctrine to blush.” J. N. Andrews, RH 3-6-1855
“ Jesus prayed that His disciples might be one as He was one with His Father (John 17). This prayer did not contemplate one disciple with twelve heads, but twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in the cause of their Master. Neither are the Father and the Son parts of the ‘three-one God.’ They are two distinct beings, yet one in the design and accomplishment of redemption. The redeemed, from the first who shares in the great redemption, to the last, all ascribe the honor, and the glory, and praise, of their salvation, to both God and the Lamb.” James White- Life Incidents, pg 343 (1868)
“ Respecting the trinity, I concluded that it was an impossibility for me to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, was also the Almighty God, the Father, one and the same being. I said to my father, “If you can convince me that we are one in this sense, that you are my father, and I your son, and also that I am your father, and you my son, then I can believe in the trinity.”” Joseph Bates, The Autobiography of Joseph Bates, pg 204-5 (1868)
“ The angels are sons of God as was Adam, by creation. Christians are sons of God by adoption. But Christ is the Son of God by birth and so Christ is the express image of the Father’s person.” E. G. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness (1890)
“ My reason for not adopting and defending it (trinity), are; Its name is unscriptural. The Trinity, or the triune God, is unknown to the Bible: and I have entertained the idea that doctrines which require words coined in the human mind to express them, are coined doctrines….” R. F. Cottrell RH 6/1/1869. He was herein referring to what we mentioned earlier that the trinity belief must be taken by faith as there is no Biblical basis for it.
“ The Spirit of God is spoken of in the Scriptures as God’s representative- the power by which He works, the agency by which all things are upheld. This is clearly expressed by the Psalmist…Ps. 139:7-10. We learn from this language that when we speak of the Spirit of God we are really speaking of His presence and power.” J. N. Loughborough, RH 9/13/1898.
“ Back in the ages, which finite mind cannot fathom, the Father and Son were alone in the universe. Christ was the first begotten of the Father, and to Him Jehovah made known the divine plan of Creation…. It was then, in those early councils, that Christ’s heart of love was touched; and the only begotten Son pledged His life to redeem man, should he yield and fall. Father and Son surrounded by impenetrable glory, clasped hands…” S. N. Haskel, The Story of the Seer of Patmos. pg 93, 94. (1905)
“ Before the creation of our world; “there was war in heaven.” Christ and the Father covenanted together; and Lucifer, the covering cherub, grew jealous because he was not admitted into the eternal councils of the Two who sat upon the throne.” S. N. Haskell, The Story of the Seer of Patmos, pg 217 (1905)
“ Christ is the only literal Son of God. “The only begotten of the Father.” John 1:14. He is God because he is the Son of God; not by virtue of His resurrection. If Christ is the only begotten of the Father, then we cannot be begotten of the Father in a literal sense. It can only be in a secondary sense of the word.” J. G. Matteson, RH 9/12/1869 pg 123.
“ The angels, therefore, are created beings, necessarily of a lower order than their Creator. Christ is the only being begotten of the Father.” Edson White, Past, Present and Future, pg 52 (1909)
“ Only one being in the universe besides the Father bears the name of God, and that is His Son, Jesus Christ.” Edson White, The Coming King, pg 33
“ There are many Scriptures which speak of the Father and the Son and the absence of Scripture making similar reference to the united work of the Father and the Holy Spirit or of Christ and the Holy Spirit, has led me to believe that the spirit without individuality was the representative of the Father and the Son throughout the universe, and it was through the Holy Spirit that they dwell in our hearts and make us one with the Father and with the Son.” W. C. White Letter to H. W. Carr, 4/30/1935
“ God is the source of all life… God’s life is eternal life, even as He is “the eternal God”…But God is a person; how can His life be everywhere present?’ God is everywhere present by His Spirit… The presence of God is therefore His Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is therefore the life of God.” M. C. Wilcox, ST 6/2/1898.
To sum up the belief of the pioneers; we find that they believed in only one (supreme) God, and that that one God was God the Father. One God as in the singular, as the pioneers said “One God” and which Jesus Himself verified in the book of John. The only Being without a beginning. They also believed the name Echad to mean ‘One God’.
They believed that Jesus was the son of God. Begotten by God the Father in the days of eternity, truly divine because as Hebrews said that is what He inherited, divinity or as we will see the Holy Spirit of God. They believed that He was the literal Son of God, that He was not role playing, and that He was not just a ‘unique’ being separate from God. They did not believe that Jesus was co-eternal, because they believed that He was begotten and thus they understood that the word homogenes to mean just that i.e. that He was the only begotten of the Father. They did not believe that He was co-equal because He was given that exalted position of mighty God, and the Father was the Almighty God. They did not at any time believe that Jesus was created and they were not ‘Arian’ in their beliefs.
They believed that the Holy Spirit was the very personal presence or omnipresence of God and of Christ. That both God and Christ shared the same Holy Spirit which was and is divinity. The Holy Spirit's very own separate and distinct being we will see Ellen White never taught. The Holy Spirit is not a third God. The Advent pioneers never taught a third God or even considered it. This thinking was brought to a head by John Harvey Kellogg even though there were undertones of it in Adventism previous to Kellogg’s teachings on it. However, Ellen White was told by God not to address this until she addressed it with Kellogg.

1872 Statement of Fundamental Principles
What did the Advent pioneers teach based upon the Bible regarding the personality of God & of Christ? Ellen White directed to let the pioneers speak for themselves by rewriting their own materials.
S. N. Haskell explains how the pioneers established the truths that they taught to the people, “They (church leaders) did not dare present that truth to the people until they had made it a special subject of prayer and the Spirit of Prophecy had set its seal to it.” RH 10/27/1904. They understood that God was leading his people and that he had established the doctrine that was to be given to the world as the Three Angel’s Messages.
The 1872 statement of principles written by James White was unanimously accepted and clearly taught not only by Ellen White but also by the pioneers and by Jones and Waggoner and was held by church leadership until 1931. This statement of belief was based upon what the founders believed and that emerged from the establishing of foundational Adventist doctrines during the years 1844-1848. This gives us the collective understanding of what the church originally believed regarding the personality of God and of Christ.
“ As elsewhere stated, Seventh-day Adventist have no creed but the Bible; but they hold to certain well-defined points of faith, for which they feel prepared to give a reason “to every man that asketh” them. The following propositions may be taken as a summary of the principal features of their religious faith, upon which there is, so far as we know, entire unanimity throughout the body.
I. That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal; infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by His representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7.
II. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom He created all things, and by whom they do consist; that He took on Him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race…” Fundamental Principles - RH 1872, James White, 1889 re-print in article by Uriah Smith

Note the first and second Principles have to do with the Godhead, before the mention of the Sabbath, the three angel’s messages, the sanctuary, or the state of the dead. Church leaders still see the importance of who God and Christ are, since they are now listed first in the current fundamental beliefs.

Dr. J. H. Kellogg and the Trinity
Ellen White realized that there was, and that there would be a tremendous effort to remove (change) the pillars of the faith at various times throughout Adventist church history, but that it would especially occur after the turn of the century. What she has written about removing the foundational teachings or landmarks of our doctrines was in relation at that time to the teachings of John Harvey Kellogg and especially concepts in the book The Living Temple which she said was, “The alpha of apostasy and that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people.” (1SM 203). Did you catch that? She stated at that time that the omega would come in a little while and that because of it she trembled for the people. Why? The omega would be of a most startling nature, which will be addressed later on in this study.
John Harvey Kellogg’s beliefs, we have already read, were termed by Ellen White to be the ‘alpha’ of apostasy, and she said these beliefs were removing some of the pillars Adventism was founded upon. The root of an apostasy is not in an association of men, but in theology, doctrine, religion, and Christian experience. When Satan saw the body leaning away from the alpha, he saw an opportunity to push the entire body in the direction they were leaning and so unbalanced the entire body, and this he did. What pillar was she talking about with regard to John Harvey Kellogg and what was the basis of his false pantheistic teachings?
She gives us the answer in the following statements. “It (The Living Temple) introduces that which is nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God and where His presence is.” ibid 202. “I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter into controversy over the presence and personality of God. The statements made in ‘Living Temple’ in regard to this point are incorrect” ibid 203. “The spiritualistic theories regarding the personality of God, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy” ibid 204. Again she said, “Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor.” YRP 235:3 (1905).
But you might suggest that we don’t believe in pantheism today in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was stated in the previous quote that Kellogg was introducing ‘nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God AND where His presence is’. Many do not know what the bases of Kellogg’s pantheistic teachings were. Most people have only looked at the surface teaching which was that there was the presence of a God in everything (pantheism). At one point he believed it was God the Father in everything, and then later after he accepted the belief of the Trinity he said it was God the Holy Spirit in everything. But the very foundation of Kellogg’s pantheistic teachings was grounded upon none other than his belief in three God’s; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, now called the trinity in the Adventist church.
Additionally for context the Adventist Pioneers also did not believe as many do today that the trinity consisted of a one body God with three different heads or roles. Let J. N. Loughborough explain. When asked some questions by James White in the RH 11/5/1861 about the Trinity, this was his explanation of what he believed to be truth. “It is not very consonant with common sense to talk of three being one, and one being three. Or as some express it, calling God “the Triune God,” or “the three-one-God.” If Father, Son and Holy Ghost are each God, it would be three Gods; for three times one is not one, but three. This is a sense in which they are one, but not one person, as claimed by Trinitarians.” He was speaking against the very teaching of the Trinity being taught in Adventism today!
There is no reference in Scripture, the Spirit of Prophecy, or in the writings of the pioneers that mentions, three co-eternal, or co-existent God’s. They felt it was not biblical, it was not taught by them. The Bible, Spirit of Prophecy, and pioneers clearly taught the Holy Spirit was not in the councils of heaven, was never to be worshiped, and was not the third highest being in Heaven.
There is no reference to the three Gods or to a tritheism teaching in the Adventist church before the letter written by A. G. Daniells’ to Willie White in reference to J. H. Kellogg’s beliefs regarding the trinity. This is what Daniells wrote, “He (Kellogg) then stated that his former views regarding the trinity had stood in his way of making a clear and absolutely correct statement; but that within a short time he had come to believe in the trinity and could now see pretty clearly where all the difficulty was, and believed that he could clear the matter up satisfactorily. He told me that he now believed in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and his view was that it was God the Holy Ghost, and not God the Father, that filled all space, and every living thing.” (Letter: A. G. Daniells to W. C. White. 10/29/1903. That was the alpha of apostasy that was referred to by Ellen White. For Dr. Kellogg had now come to believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit something totally foreign to the doctrines of the church before this time.
From this we can realize that Dr. Kellogg's belief in three God’s called the trinity, was the foundation and basis for his understanding of pantheism which Ellen White called the "alpha of apostasy". She stated also that the omega would soon follow and that it would be of a most startling nature.
Why in the world would she refute Kellogg's belief in three Gods, and at the same time be teaching it herself as some are now saying? To do so would be the highest form of hypocrisy, and it would surely show that this church was built upon a very sandy and deceptive foundation. Remember now that she said the foundation was solidly laid and would last until the end of time!
Camden Lacey was the first to propose the idea of the non-beginning of Jesus, a doctrine he brought over from the Anglican Church, and there were others after Kellogg that were pushing the Trinity doctrine, but Ellen White was told by God not to address this deviation from truth until Kellogg brought the alpha of apostasy to a head.
The question must be asked and seriously considered, why did Ellen White reprove J. H. Kellogg for his belief in the Trinity, and yet at the same time believe it herself? Why didn’t she commend him for removing a “false pillar” instead of boldly declaring he was tearing down the “true pillars” that have stood the test of time? Was she deceptive in changing her theology to the Trinity teaching, as today is being told? Why didn’t she clearly establish this new doctrine in her writings? Instead today people are taking a quote here; a part quote there to establish what they believe is her belief in the Trinity.
The Word “Trinity”
The pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were anti (non)-Trinitarian. Most church members were non-Trinitarian until about the late 1930’s. Ellen White never used the word Trinity when referring to God, neither did she use the word God the Holy Spirit. The pioneers were well aware of the Trinity teaching and studied it in light of the Bible. They as well as Ellen White used the term personality of God and Christ when stating their beliefs on divinity. Ellen White never used, nor does the Bible state that there are three coequal, coeternal divine beings. “The Father and the Son ALONE are to be exalted” YI 7/7/98. “We abide in the Son and in the Father” 1 John 2:24. “Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son.” 1 John 1:3. Ellen White consistently throughout her life time rejected the concept of three Gods, and always referred to the Godhead as God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God. They did not use the term because the pioneers and Ellen White realized it wasn’t Biblical!

Now Rome recognizes that the Seventh-day Adventist trinity teaching is a “valid” trinity. Read carefully these startling words: “Seventh-Day Adventists agree with many Catholic doctrines, including the Trinity…By virtue of their…belief…in the doctrine of the Trinity, Seventh-day Adventists are both ontologically and theologically Christians” permission to publish this work is hereby granted. Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, 8/10/2004. Rome recognizes the Adventist Church as “Christian” because they adopted the trinity doctrine. While the explanation of the trinity in the Seventh-day Adventist Church differ somewhat from Rome (and differently to some of its pastors and church leaders), yet Rome is satisfied that the doctrine is in our ranks. You must understand that Rome does not really care how you explain it, as long as you agree with her that the trinity is true- that God is three. Rome denies the divine relationship of the Father and the Son. For indeed they deny that Jesus is the only begotten of God.

Research papers were done by Erwin Gane (in 1963) and Russell Holt (in 1969) showing that the pioneers were non-trinitarian, and then they ‘prove’ that the church shifted to a Trinitarian view under the leadership of Ellen White. These were the first to introduce this concept which is now accepted and taught.

It is interesting that when Walter Martin met with Froom in the 1950’s, he had a suitcase full of Spirit of Prophecy books and quotes showing Froom, from Ellen White’s writings, that she and the church were non-trinitarian which he (Froom) flatly denied. Surely the Bible text, “And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” Luke 16:8, could not be more applicable here!

Does it Really Matter?
It does matter!!! The Scripture says that life eternal is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. God sent His Son!! This is the heart of the gospel message. The Trinity teaching says that Jesus was not originally God’s Son. We have been told that we will respond to the sacrifice made in our behalf in proportion to our estimate of the value of the gift. As parents ourselves, it strikes at our very hearts to realize God gave of Himself in the gift of His only begotten Son. The Trinity teaching obscures that gift. This was no role play; it was God’s own dear Son that died for us. The plan of salvation takes on a much deeper meaning. Note the beautiful way in which inspiration describes what the Father went through in yielding up His Son to die for us:
“ Said the angel, “Think ye that the Father yielded up His dearly beloved Son without a struggle? No, no. It was even a struggle with the God of heaven, whether to let guilty man perish, or to give His beloved Son to die for him.” SR 45; EW
As seen earlier in Early Writings pages 54-56 there is a group that were praying to Jesus. They did not realize Jesus had left the holy place in 1844, and Satan appeared to be by the throne, he answered their prayers, while they thought Jesus was still leading them and answering them.
“ It is possible for Seventh-day Adventists to follow error until they have gone so far from the right tract (remember how close together lie the track of truth and the track of error (Series B #2 p. 52)) that they will seek the power of the “gifts” in a way contrary to God’s specifications. If they persist in this they thereby become candidates to receive power from the same source as the error came which they are following, though they may know it not. They are then looking to the wrong source, and the following statement applies to them as fully as to other Protestants who are looking to the wrong leader.” Julius Gilbert White, “The Alpha and The Omega of Apostasy”

“Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they offer up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his snare. Some look with horror upon one deception, while they readily receive another. Satan deceives some with Spiritualism. He also comes as an angel of light and spreads his influence over the land by means of false reformations. The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously for them, when it is the work of another spirit” EW 261.
Why is the devil so fiercely opposed to the truth that Jesus is the true Son of God? It is not difficult to find the answer to this question. The Bible declares that God’s love is revealed in the fact that God gave His Son to die for mankind (John 3:16, 1John 4:9, 10). How can we understand and appreciate the wonder of that love if we fail to discern the identity of the One who was sent? If we fail to grasp the value of the gift that was given and what it cost God to give it we cannot fully experience that gift. It is only as we understand Christ’s identity that we can begin to love God as we should (1John 4:19). Therefore our love for God and our victory over sin are linked to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God (1John 5:5)?” No wonder the devil hates this truth!
The teaching that God sent His Son is the very core of the Christian faith. Take out the foundation, and everything resting upon it tumbles with it!!
Satan’s Goal
Satan’s goal is to interpose himself between man and his Savior. This he is doing through the Trinity teaching, setting himself up as the spirit, the go-between. We have only one Mediator- Jesus Christ. Through the Trinity teaching Satan has succeeded in placing the Father, the one true God, in the background and bringing the spirit to the forefront. All we have to do is look at the vast amount of literature being printed emphasizing the Holy Spirit in our church today, as in other faiths. We are being taught to pray to the Spirit which is a totally unbiblical principle. We as SDA’s keep saying that the Pentecostals are praying to and receiving the wrong spirit. Why? The Pentecostals believe in the same Trinity we espouse, don’t they? How then are we so sure they are getting a wrong spirit, but we are getting the right spirit? What is the difference? Remember, “The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted” SDG 58. “There is a personal God, the Father; there is a personal Christ, the Son.” EGW- 6BC 1068.

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

WARNING & Changes
Now we come to the change in the foundational teaching on the personality of God and Christ after Ellen White died. “Great things shall come to pass after I am gone; Satan will work as never before. All that can be shaken will be shaken out. We must draw near to God, for we cannot lean upon man or the crowd. We must know the Lord deeply as never before.” EGW, Asiatic Division News May 1-15, 1915, p. 43.
The alpha of apostasy involved Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, but from our study we find that the omega, commenced in the 1950’s under the watchful eye of Leroy Froom. It must be noted, that there were always undertones of the Trinity between the time of Kellogg and Froom, but they were not fully taught and displayed until the time of the Froom era.

In 1926, young LeRoy E. Froom was asked by church leaders to give a series of studies on the Holy Spirit covering the North American Union Ministerial Institutes of 1927 and 1928. Forty years later, Froom said of this research, “May I here make a frank personal confession? When, back between 1926 and 1928, I was asked by our leaders to give a series of studies on the Holy Spirit…. I found that, aside from priceless leads found in the Spirit of Prophecy, there was practically nothing in our literature setting forth a sound Biblical exposition in this tremendous field of study….

“I was compelled to search out a score of valuable books written by men outside of our faith – those previously noted – for initial clues and suggestions, and to open up beckoning vistas to intensive personal study. Having these, I went on from there… And scores, if not hundreds, could confirm the same sobering conviction that some of these other men (non-SDA) frequently had a deeper insight into the spiritual things of God than many of our own men had on the Holy Spirit and the triumphant life.” Movement of Destiny, p. 322, Leroy Froom, 1971.

Please note that Froom could find “practically nothing” in the writings of the pioneers on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Why not? Was it because they taught something different? Remember Ellen White’s confirmation that what the pioneers established as truth was indeed truth from God!

“ We spend so much time studying the things we profess not to believe in order to secure a right to practice the things we profess to believe, that when we get through we have become so inoculated with the error that we just naturally go out and do that which we studied so much, and the things we started out to do are lost to our view if they indeed ever were clear in our minds.” Julius Gilbert White, ‘Alpha & Omega of Apostasy’.

As a result of his studies for the Ministerial Institutes, Froom wrote a book entitled, ‘The coming of the Comforter’, in which he revealed his belief in the Trinitarian position of the Holy Spirit. (He, like Dr. Kellogg used Spirit of Prophecy statements to uphold his belief).

When the book came out, there was great opposition from the retired church leaders. Froom stated, “You cannot imagine how I was pummeled by some of the old timers because I pressed on the personality of the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Godhead. Some men denied that – still deny it. But the book has come to be generally accepted as standard.” Letter from Leroy Froom to Dr. Otto H. Christenson, 10/27/1960.

Obviously LeRoy Froom’s material impressed A G Daniells, for in 1930 he suggested the young author “undertake a thorough survey of the entire plan of redemption- its principles, provision, and divine Personalities as they unfolded to our view as a Movement from 1844 onward, with special emphasis upon the developments of ‘1888’ and its sequel.” Movement of Destiny, Leroy Froom, ‘From Author to Reader’ – How this Portrayal came to be Written, Third printing of 1972.

Froom stated that A. G. Daniells urged him to “set forth the results in a comprehensive portrayal – one that would honor God and exalt truth, that would enlighten and uplift the Church, and that by the very sweep of its presentation would constitute not only a survey but a summons to advance. He also expressed the earnest hope that it would be both complete and forthright, and documented for serious worldwide worker study… This had become a conviction with him, which he felt he must pass on to me.

“His urge met with a definite response in my heart, for I was keenly interested in such a project. But I was awed by its magnitude and far-reaching character. I thought of it as for someone else, more mature and experienced, to undertake.

No, he said he felt it was for me to do – for I had gotten a vision of it, and had a background and burden for it. And I was a connecting link between past leaders and the present. But, he said, it is to be later – NOT YET.” Ibid. Why not yet? Why should he not proceed immediately?

Froom gives the reason. “Elder Daniells recognized the serious problems involved, and sensed almost prophetically certain difficulties they would confront. He knew that time would be required for certain theological wounds to heal, and for attitudes to modify on the part of some. Possibly it would be necessary to wait until certain individuals had dropped out of action before the needed portrayal could wisely be brought forth….” Ibid. In other words, wait until some people are dead- then you can begin!

Froom states that “His material was appreciated, and he spent many hours presenting his findings to Bible teachers, professionals, university and college staff, colporteurs and others. Not only did he receive invitations from within the Adventist Church, but also from various quarters in the religious world, including Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Reformed, Congregationalist, and Unitarian faiths, as well as an organization of converted Roman Catholic priest. Invitations also came from universities such as Marburg (Germany), Rutgers (USA), Pittsburgh (USA). The results were “gratifying”, he said. Dialogues with Roman Catholic student priests were “very fruitful” Ibid.

“Extended exchanges were made between the Catholic priest Petrus Nober of the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome, editor of Verbum Domine, as well as other priest, including Luis Rivera of Rome and Argentina who Froom stated, “translated and printed articles of mine in his Revista Biblica.” Ibid. Another work performed by Froom during his research was to correct various encyclopedias and religious reference works within the denomination. It was “most gratifying,” he said, “to see the readiness with which the critics were willing to correct our basic position” Ibid.

“Many of the corrections went on behind the scenes, quietly accomplishing their objectives.” Pilgrim’s Rest. DH 105. An article in the ‘Record’ confirms this very specific editing, for when speaking of non-Trinitarian publications it stated, “Some reprints of older books and articles still contained such views, but these were eventually discontinued or edited to reflect the new understanding (of the Trinity).” ‘Record’ 6/19/1999, p. 8.
According to the National and World Council of Churches, “A sure red light when discussing theology is the denial of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity… More than any other doctrine, the doctrine of the Trinity is a clear measure of cultic theology.” Bruce Tucker, Twisting the Truth, pg 59, 79, 80, 197.
This statement is one of the primary reasons why Seventh-day Adventists have been called a cult for so many years. Leroy Froom gives added insight into this in a letter he sent to Reuben Figuhr then General Conference President. In that letter he stated, “The very fact that our relation to the deity of Christ (Trinity), the completeness of the atonement of the cross, so far as the atoning sacrifice is concerned, our relationship to the transaction with the scapegoat, and particularly the nature of Christ during the incarnation are on every hand the criteria by which we have been adjudged and condemned as heretics and a cult that is not even Christian in its connotation.”
The book Evangelism, which was compiled in 1946 uses partial sentences, fragmented thoughts, and Trinitarian headings to convince the reader that Ellen White believed in a trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The compilers also use a quote or two from Desire of Ages to imply that Ellen White made the change at that time. However when the line-upon-line approach to Bible and Spirit of Prophecy study is used these statements very clearly do not support a Trinitarian belief, but are rather a continuation of her original beliefs regarding the nature of God.
Leroy Froom also wrote in his letter to Elder Fighur that the book (Evangelism) ought to take care of the “Columbia Union men.”* He knew in the way it was written that they would either have to go along with the new teaching of the Trinity or else call Ellen White a false prophet. (*- Many leaders in the Columbia Union opposed his Trinitarian views.)
What had started with Camden Lacey, Kellogg, Prescott, and Daniells with the 1919 Bible Conference especially, and others in unofficially laying the foundation for this foundational teaching of the Papacy had now come to an official status with Froom and associates working with the evangelicals!
Conclusion
In summation, the points presented in this paper were two; that Jesus is really the only-begotten Son of God, and not just playing the role of son, and that the Holy Spirit is not a third God of a trithiestic pagan God, but the very personal presence or omnipresence of God the Father given to the Son of God. That there is one Supreme God, God the Father, one only begotten Son of God, Jesus, and one Holy Spirit of God. The latter two is in the possessive of God.

Jesus when talking to His disciples said that there were things He wanted to say to them that they could not understand. Mrs. White in commenting on this said that it was because they had been taught by the Rabbi’s and Jewish teachings that they could not understand what He was saying. Ellen White also says that “New theological prism puts asunder what God has joined together” GC 466. I do not wish to judge or cast blame on anyone, for I cannot know the hearts of any man. What we do know is that Ellen White over and over again said that the foundation of this church was solid and would last until Jesus comes. Not one pin was to be removed, not one landmark, nothing was to be touched. “I do not wish to ignore or drop one link in the chain of evidence that was formed as, after the passing of the time in 1844, little companies of seekers after truth met together to study the Bible and to ask God for light and guidance. . . . The truth, point by point, was fastened in our minds so firmly that we could not doubt. . . . 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 in every particular” 1MR 52 (1906).
We must accept one of two choices, either God built the Seventh-day Adventist church upon the most serious heresy, or else the church has gone into serious apostasy since the death of its prophet and pioneers. Was Ellen White in error when she supported these pioneers or has Satan instead been busily undermining the basic foundations of the church?
We must stand upon the foundation that God laid for the Seventh-day Adventist Church which believed: There is one God, the Father, and one only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is the express image of the Father and who possesses all the attributes of His Father. Jesus is the Divine Son of God. There is but one Holy Spirit which is the shared Spirit of the Father and the Son. We see two Divine beings who share a common Spirit making them one in purpose, thought, and action.
God’s church, His people with the remnant message will go through!! But we need to ever remember that to be a remnant, we must be like the original. The heart of the remnant message is, “Fear God, and give glory to Him…” Rev. 14:7. Our Adventist pioneers knew who God was, that is why God led them to sound the message with a distinctive tone, and set such a solid foundation.
“ In the days of the apostles the most foolish heresies were presented as truth. History has been and will be repeated. There will always be those who, though apparently conscientious, will grasp at the shadow, preferring it to the substance. They take error in the place of truth, because error is clothed with a new garment, which they think covers something wonderful. But let the covering be removed, and nothingness appears” 7BC 918.
In closing we must always remember Psalm’s 11:3 which says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Appendixes

Godhead versus Trinity
Church leaders including those who are ‘historical theology oriented’ basically agree that our present foundation is laid upon a foundation of sand. Some say “Do not be afraid of using the term ‘Trinity,’ we have a different view on what it means than what most believe”, or others say that “I avoid using the word Trinity and use the word ‘Godhead’ which is biblical.” But most have accepted three God’s and have built another foundation that God did not lay, and is sure to be swept away. They suggest that the pioneers were Arian (Jesus created), without documenting their claims. This is far from the truth that emerges from a thorough study of history and from the teachings and writings of the Adventist pioneers.

It is interesting to note that the term Trinity is freely used but stated it doesn’t mean what the Catholic Church teaches. Perhaps we should start using the term Eucharist for the Lord’s Supper and Mass for the church service. Some pastors have already started using the term parish for their congregations. No matter how you say it Trinity’s root word is Tri which means three (gods), and that was not the teaching of the pioneers on the personality of God and Christ upon which the Adventist church was established.

J. N. Andrews of whom Andrews University is named, says it well. “The doctrine of the Trinity which was established in the church by the council of Nice, A. D. 325. This doctrine destroys the personality of God, and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” J. N. Andrews, Review & Herald, 3/6/1855

History of the Trinity
History reveals that the Trinity came originally from paganism. It was modified by the papacy over a period of three centuries (starting with the Council of Nicea in 325AD) and passed on to Protestantism. In the beginning, our pioneers rejected the Trinity, but with the inroads of apostasy, we accepted the Papal falsehood. However, more recently we have moved from Catholic tradition to paganism, but in some circles, there are moves back to the Catholic view. Today Adventists believe in three co-equal gods which are pioneers rejected.
There are many good in-depth studies of the Trinity all agreeing on the major issues of its history, so we will not take the time in this paper to cover all the details.
Ellen White’s teaching on the Personality of God and Christ
“ God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, not a son by creation as were the angels, not a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person…” EGW- ST 5/30/1895. Here she was talking literally about the relationship of God to Christ and clearly states he was begotten of God, not created, adopted or playing a role. Now it is said that she changed her tune and that Christ played the role of Son-ship rather than of literal Son of God.
“ Let them be thankful to God for His manifold mercies and be kind to one another. They have one God and one Savior; and one Spirit—the Spirit of Christ—is to bring unity into their ranks” 9T 189.
“ The King of the universe summoned the heavenly host before Him, and in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father’s throne and the glory of the Eternal, self-existent One encircled both…. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared that none but Christ, the only begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will… Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the creation of the earth and its inhabitants. But in all this He would not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God’s plan, but would exalt the Fathers glory and execute His purposes of beneficence and love” PP 36.
“ The only being who was one with God lived the law in humanity, descended to the lowly life of a common laborer, and toiled at the carpenter’s bench with His earthly parent” TMK 363.
“ Let the brightest example the world has yet seen be your example, rather than the greatest and most learned men of the age, who know not God, nor Jesus Christ whom He has sent. The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted” EGW- YI 7/7/1898.
“ Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father—one in nature, in character, in purpose—the only being that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God…There was one who perverted the freedom that God had granted to His creatures… And coveting the glory with the Infinite Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone” PP 34, 35 (see also- GC 493).
“ Our great Exemplar was exalted to be equal with God.” 2T 426. This is very clear that Christ was different than the Father. “(Hebrews 1:1-5 quoted) God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son” 8T 268.
“ The Eternal Father, the unchangeable one, gave His only begotten Son, tore from His bosom Him who was made in the express image of His person, and sent Him down to earth to reveal how greatly He loved mankind” EGW- RH 7/9/1895.
Ellen White all through her life continued in her belief that Jesus was the literal Son of God. She never swerved from this belief and neither did her children. When one believes instead that Jesus was just playing a role as many now believe, then as Ellen White states “they have thereby made the Bible fictitious.” When God said He gave His only Begotten Son, that would be just a role, for it’s said He had no Son to give. When the Devil asked twice: “If you are the Son of God…” (Matt. 4:3, 6), then he must have been playing along with the role playing, because it’s said he wasn’t really the Son of God. When He was on the cross and they said, “If you are the Son of God come down,” then those people must too have known Jesus was just role playing because they later called Him the Son of God. When Peter said He was the Son of God as well as John and Paul they would have had to understand that this was just role playing and were then in on the big plot. Then there was Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament; he stated he saw the Son of God in the fiery furnace, I guess he was misinformed by Daniel who to was also in on the role-playing story. Daniel 3:25.
“ One of the trying temptations that came to Jesus in His earthly life was the one of believing in His own experience: Was He the Son of God or was He not? The devil always dogged His steps with that doubt. Practically all the evidence would indicate that He was not. The mystery of His mission had to unfold to Him when He began to come to the years of accountability. He had to read the scriptures for Himself and find Himself there and take His nature, His mission, His work, and therefore His experience as a matter of faith. The crisis of the test of His faith on this point was on the cross when He had been rejected by the heather, by His own people; when His followers had “gone back”; His disciples had fled, His relatives had discredited Him, Judas had sold Him, ardent Peter had denied Him, angels had left Him, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn; and then His Father withdrew from Him. Then Satan pointed that question at Him for the last time: Do you still think you are the Son of Heaven? Through all these experiences He had something to hold Him; He had been confirmed and established in His experience by something from without His experience.

“At His baptism God had spoken to Him and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And on the mount of transfiguration the same voice had repeated the same words. The miracles which God had wrought through His ministry were a mighty confirmation of His experience. And so it is written in Desire of Ages, page 756:“Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him” Julius Gilbert White, The Alpha and The Omega of Apostasy.

Now Adventist theologians say the Father and the Son were only role playing. What a tragedy that these “learned men” would make such an awesome moment in earth’s history a fictitious story. In reality inspiration clearly reveals it was the final moments of God the Father and His only Begotten Son being separated. The Son that pled with His Father to give His life for the redemption of a fallen world is now said to be only playing the role of one of three Gods.
Many during Christ’s ministry said “Truly this is the Son of God,” they were either deceived or in on this plot. We have no record where Christ ever reproved or corrected them for calling Him the Son of God. Christ once asked His disciples, “Whom do ye say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said into him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven” Matt. 16:15-17. Is that clear, was Jesus going along with the role part? If you accept the role play of Jesus nothing is left to believe as truth, for everything concerning Him becomes just make believe.
Why would God go to such great lengths to hide from us that Jesus was just another God, and how did He tell all of those people and have them in on the made-up story including the devil? When you think about it, it doesn’t make any sense. That’s because it isn’t a made up story, it is the truth. Jesus was literally the Son of God. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” is the very bottom foundation of the gospel and the personality of God and Christ. As Ellen White said, “God is the Father and Jesus is the Son.” That God the Father would give His only begotten Son to save this sin sick world is beyond my comprehension.
Ellen G. White Estate- ‘Helpful Editing… Alterations… and Clarifications’…
Ellen White had to deal with people using her writings as evidence to support their teachings which were opposed to her beliefs. The White Estate is responsible for preserving the Writings but has admitted to alterations and changes. In the 1926 edition of Counsels on Health, pg 561 it used the neuter pronoun ‘it.’ In the 1957 edition, the masculine pronoun ‘He’ and ‘Him’ were substituted. In the 1957 edition has the following statement on page 4: “The text of the book is unchanged, and the original paging has been maintained.”

Sometimes she used the personal pronoun in referring to the Holy Spirit; sometimes she used the neuter pronoun. Occasionally she used both in the same article. Other changes have been documented in 11MR pg 36:0 (1981) and 1888 Materials pg 1538:2. In the 1995 devotional book “Ye Shall Receive Power” the editors thought a consistent use of the personal pronouns would be desirable and not alter the original intent. In 2000 the updated CD-ROM was changed to the original wording. No public admission or apology of what changes have been made, or how many have been altered, and they limit their admissions to only what has been brought to their attention. This tampering and not telling, logically causes distrust in the Writings and the White Estate.

However, in the book Counsels on Health you will find that no change has been made. I know of someone who has literally seen pages of the 1926 and 1957 versions of the book. He tells the account of how a husband and wife had both versions, and sat side by side each reading a paragraph from one book and then another. The ‘it’s’ describing the Holy Spirit were replaced with the personal pronouns he and him. The man went to the preface of the 1957 version to see if there was any explanation or admission of word altering, and there was none. Instead he found the words, “The text of the book is unchanged, and the original paging has been maintained.” P.4. It seems the White Estate has adopted the policy of don’t ask, don’t tell. This brings up an important question, how many more editing’s have they done of which they only know?

Then there is the writing of the book Desire of Ages that has some question surrounding it in the use of a partial quote used on Page 539 (this quote is discussed later in the paper). We know Ellen White was very busy at this time writing, “I have devoted little time to these books, for speaking, writing articles for the papers, and writing private testimonies to meet and repress the evils that are coming in keeps me busy.” Letter 114, 1894, 3 SM.

Had Ellen White suddenly changed to believe Christ was co-eternal and co-equal with the Father? Or was she saying exactly the same as when she wrote the full paragraph in the ‘Signs of the Times, an understanding she had held for over fifty years? Obviously, Ellen White’s bookmaker had taken one sentence from the previous article and placed it in a different setting. Camden Lacey helped Marian Davis write chapter 1 of the Desire of Ages, and he was an admitted Trinitarian.

While we do not wish to accuse anyone, a simple suggestion to include one sentence apart from its original context, if it would portray a picture of an eternal co-equal Christ, is possible. Ellen White, re-reading her own words would of course have her original intent in mind. Ellen White stated, “I expect to be betrayed, as with my Master, by professed friends” R&H 10/16/1883.

It may well be that Satan has placed his subtleties within the writings, but this must never lower our estimation of the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy. Both have been protected from making it impossible to see the truth. Ellen White had great insight into this when she wrote, “The enemy of truth, through the ministry of fallen angels, would be pleased to introduce uncertainty in the minds of many in regard to the doctrines that have been established by the sanction of the Holy Spirit. Disguised as one who has a deep understanding of truth, Satan will seek to point out supposed errors in that which needs no revision, and it will take much time and patient labor to restore confidence in those whose minds are unsettled by unnecessary changes. God forbids His servants to alter that which needs no change.” 10MR 337.

Arius
The teachings of Arius who lived at the time of the Nicene council, (not to be confused with “the Aryan Nations” or white supremacists), have been explained by many people, but rarely is there agreement regarding what he taught. On the one hand, he is believed to have regarded Jesus as a created being, whose life started at Bethlehem through the Holy Spirit. It is said his belief was that He was the ‘beginning of the creation of God’, his explanation of Revelation 3:14.
Then there are others of the nineteenth century who give another view as to what he believed. As very few of the Arian manuscripts are extant, we cannot totally refute these statements, however, since we are seeing that the very same charge, that Jesus was created is being made against those who teach that Jesus was literally the divine only Begotten Son of God today, it is our personal belief that more than likely the accusations against Arius were indeed false. However, the pioneers are today categorized as semi-Arian meaning Jesus was the literal divine Son of God, brought forth from the bosom of the Father in the dateless past, before the creation of the world and that he was in some way inferior to the Father.
B. G. Wilkinson states, “That those who would not believe in the trinity of the Catholic Church were labeled as being ‘Arian.’ The three kingdoms, the Ostrogoths, the Heruli, and the Vandals, were plucked up by the Catholic Church in the 6th century because they would not accept the trinity doctrine. They were labeled Arian, but this is probably not the case.” B. G. Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant
There are just about as many understandings as to what Arius taught as there are understandings of the Trinity doctrine. The Trinity doctrine was established as doctrine in 538 at about the same time that the papacy came into existence.
Begotten From Everlasting, Not Just at Bethlehem
There are those who teach that Jesus became the only Begotten Son of God when he was born in Bethlehem. W.W. Prescott stated in 1986 that Jesus was born twice, once in eternity the only begotten of the Father, and again here in the flesh. This was the consensus of the pioneers and this is what the church taught.
Hebrews chapter one states, “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.” He would have had to be the Son before Bethlehem if He made the worlds. “Who being the brightness of His (God the Father) glory, and the express image of His (God the Father) person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty (God the Father) on high. Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art My Son, this day have I begotten three? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? And AGAIN, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him” Hebrews 1:2-6. This is consistent with what the pioneers believed. That Jesus was born twice, once in eternity and once when he was born the Son of Man in Bethlehem.
Ellen White states, “From eternity there was a complete unity between the Father and the Son. They were two, yet little short of being identical; two in individuality, yet one in spirit, and heart and character” YI 12/16/97.
The Ancient of Days is God the Father. Says the psalmist: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” Psalm 90:2. It is he, the source of all being, and the fountain of all law, that is to preside in the judgment. And holy angels as ministers and witnesses, in number “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,” attend this great tribunal” GC 479.
“ Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God…In speaking of his pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him” EV 615.
If time began with Christ, then there would never have been a time, when Christ did not exist. She was referring to dateless ages before time keeping had come into existence. After the redemption of this world we will again revert back to dateless ages or what is termed eternity.
In the Old Testament Nebebuchadnezzar saw Jesus in the fiery furnace and called him the ‘Son of God’.
Proverbs 8 talks of Jesus as being the wisdom of God saying that the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Many times Ellen White quoted this chapter referring to these as Christ’s words referring to Himself.
“ He was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent… He is the eternal, self-existent Son” EV 615.
Jesus states how He became self-existent, “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself” John 5:26.
To say that Christ was self-existent does not preclude His being begotten. Once begotten in the Father’s exact image, He would then be self-existent. The expression “eternal Son” does not preclude His origin either. The New Earth will be “our eternal home,” – meaning that once created it will never end.
Two final quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy; “Satan well knew the position that Christ had held in heaven as the Beloved of the Father” DA 115. “Angels that were loyal and true sought to reconcile this first great rebel to the will of his Creator. They justified the act of God in conferring honor upon Jesus Christ, and with forcible reasons sought to convince Satan that no less honor was his now than before the Father had proclaimed the honor which he had conferred upon his Son. They clearly set forth that Jesus was the Son of God, existing with him before the angels were created.” ST 1/9/79
‘ From Eternity’ and ‘Everlasting’
The Trinity teaching in Seventh-day Adventism teaches that there are three-coeternal God’s which implies that throughout much of the Bible that at least two of these God's are role playing rather than existing literally as the Bible states that God exists. The pioneers of the church clearly believed and taught something different; that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God (divine or as Godhead means divinity). They believed that He inherited His Father’s Spirit and His Father's divinity because He was begotten in the express image of the Father. Ellen White states that Lucifer was created as nearly as possible to the likeness to God, but that he was not begotten. Satan was created, Jesus was begotten. Jesus was/is the very Son of God while Lucifer is not.
If Jesus is the literal Son of God even prior to His being born to Mary, then there would by default have to be a time when He was begotten. J. N. Andrews in Sermons on the Sabbath and the Law pg. 177 explains it this way; “But is not eternity, as distinguished from time, unmeasured durations? And is not time, as distinguished from eternity, that part of duration which is measured by the Bible.” In other words if something were to take place ‘in eternity’, that would mean that it happened outside, and prior to, time on earth as we know it. At the creation of this world Genesis 1 states; “The evening and the morning were the first day,” the first biblical record of recorded time. Therefore in the days of eternity simply means before recorded time or time keeping. In eternity past Christ was begotten, the angels were created and Lucifer fell. In measured time we have creation, earth’s history and the New Earth and then we go into eternity in the future.
Ellen White stated, “He was the only begotten Son of God, who was one with the Father from the beginning.” Then she goes on to clarify what she means by beginning, “By Him the worlds were made” ST 5/28/1894. The beginning of the worlds is what she is referring to.
“ Angels of God looked with amazement upon Christ, who took upon Himself the form of man and humbly united His divinity with humanity in order that He might minister to fallen man. It is a marvel among the heavenly angels. God has told us that He did do it and we are to accept the Word of God just as it reads. And although we may try to reason in regard to our Creator, how long He has had existence, where evil first entered into our world, all these things, we may reason about them until we fall down faint and exhausted with the research when there is yet an infinity beyond” 7BC 919 (1888).
“ The Eternal Father, the unchangeable One, gave His only begotten Son, tore from His bosom Him who was made in the express image of His person, and sent Him down to earth to reveal how greatly He loved mankind” RH 7/9/1895.
“ The dedication of the first-born had its origin in the earliest times. God had promised to give the First-born of heaven to save the sinner” DA 51.
The Bible clearly refers to Jesus Christ as the Son of God 50 times; it never refers to Him as God the Son. The phrase, Son of God, is in the genitive case; showing that Jesus Christ originated from and belongs to God. In no way can the Son of God be the same as God the Son; that violates grammar, language and common sense. God the Son is not a biblical term, it does not appear in the Greek, Hebrew, of Aramaic texts. God the Son is however a Babylonian term. The Babylonians made Nimrod a god, and when he died they deified his son Tammuz as God the Son. Making God a man and man a god was invented in Babylon. This idolatry and false belief has been carried into pagan religions, and it has worked its way into Christianity as the doctrine of the Trinity.
Isaiah 9:6
Some have questions about this verse, and others have used it to prove that there was role playing being done in the placement of different roles for different Gods. First, we will quote the text, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulders; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
In the beginning of the verse it says a child is born and a son is given. That could be many different children, but when we read and understand the rest of the text we understand it to mean Jesus the Son of God. But some cannot understand the Mighty God, The everlasting Father being attached to Jesus.
DA 483 explains, “However much a shepherd may love his sheep, he loves his sons and daughters more. Jesus is not only our shepherd: He is our “everlasting Father”. And He says, “I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father” John 10: 14, 15. What a statement is this! The only-begotten Son, He who is in the bosom of the Father, He whom God has declared to be “the Man that is My fellow” (Zech 13:7),- the communion between Him and the eternal God is taken to represent the communion between Christ and His children on the earth.”
We are to have the same communion with Christ that he had with His Father. What type of communion did they have? We are told, “In Christ the cry of humanity reached the Father of infinite pity. As a man He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity. Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world. His experience is to be ours” DA 363.
The understanding of who the Son of God is leads us to realize that it is also tied into the nature of Christ. We can have the same experience that Jesus had in living a life of victory while on this earth, Praise God. But how did Jesus have this continual communion with His Father that we are to have with Jesus, so that we may have this very same victory? “The Spirit was given Him without measure; for His mission on earth demanded this. Christ’s life represents a perfect manhood. Just that which you may be, He was in human nature. He took our infirmities. He was not only made flesh, but He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. His divine attributes were withheld from relieving His soul anguish or His bodily pains” Letter 106, 1896. (5BC 1124).
What a promise this is that we can share in the Holy Spirit that God gave to Jesus and that is given also to us. “The Lord Jesus acts through the Holy Spirit; for it is His representative (His own personal presence, His omnipresence). Through it He (Jesus) infuses spiritual life into the soul… He (Jesus) is the wonderful Counselor, infinite in wisdom and strength; and if we will acknowledge the power of His Spirit, and submit to be molded by it, we shall stand complete in Him (Jesus). What a thought is this! In Christ “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him. Col. 2:9, 10” SDG 282; RH 2-10-1903.
His communion with His Father is the same we are to have with Jesus our heavenly mediator. What a privilege! And the best part is that the results will be the same divinity and humanity combined. There is no excuse for sin if we will but take hold of the wonderful story that was laid before the foundation of the world. Christ in you the hope of Glory through His Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that He received from His Father is the Spirit that we can each receive through Christ.
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 Ghost” Matt. 28:19. We must ask, in what name did the apostles baptize? Was this a commission of the apostles to baptize into a trinity?

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” Acts 2:38. “(For as yet he (the Holy Spirit) was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the LORD Jesus)” Acts 8:16. “And he (Peter) commanded them to be baptized in the name of the LORD. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days” Acts 10:48. “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the LORD Jesus” Acts 19:5.

Some scholars have shown that that Matthew 28:19 has been altered from the original manuscripts. They claim the original manuscripts read: “Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in My name, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I commanded you.” Knowing how old manuscripts have been altered and used by the modern versions including the New King James Version I am not willing to justify doing away with it since Ellen White never did, she referred to it and often used it.

We have been taught the Trinity interpretation of this verse, but what does it really say? Any grammarian would state that the titles Father, Son, and Spirit are not names. There are many fathers, sons and spirits, and no one could sign a check as ‘Father’ and know who that father was. We know that the name of the Son is Jesus, and the name of Jesus means ‘Jehovah Saves.’ Jesus said: “I am come in My Father’s name…” John 5:43. We see when we compare scripture with scripture they do not contradict each other. When a pastor carries out the divine command to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he will baptize in the name of Jesus Christ. For Jesus, meaning ‘Jehovah Saves,’ is the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.

“Our sanctification is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is the fulfillment of the covenant God has made with those who bind themselves up with Him, to stand with Him, His Son, and His Spirit in holy fellowship. Have you become a new being in Christ Jesus? Then cooperate with the three great powers (not gods) of heaven who are working in your behalf” 7BC 908.

Life Original, Unborrowed, Underived
“ Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. “He that hath the Son hath life,” The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life.” DA 530 (1898); EV 616. Christ was GIVEN (by divine inheritance) the original, unborrowed, underived life of His Father. This is plainly what He said in John 5:26. When you read the whole statement in Signs of the Times, April 8, 1897 (1SM, p. 296, 297) you will understand that it says that, “Man may possess it (eternal life) through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift if ye will believe in Christ as His personal Savior. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). What a thought!! What a gift!

Is the Holy Spirit God?
“ But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost… Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” Acts 5: 3, 4
This quote is used to say that the Holy Spirit is God; “We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.” EV 616 (From a talk to the students at the Avondale School). This statement when read in its original context is talking about the Lord Jesus (7MR 299). This quotation is stopped in the middle of a sentence. Let me finish it, “The Lord says this because He knows it is for our good. He would build a wall around us, to keep us from transgression, so that His blessing and love may be bestowed on us in rich measure…. We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds, unseen by human eyes; that the Lord God is our Keeper and Helper. He hears every word we utter and knows every thought of the mind.”
The Acts 5:3, 4 reference, and the Avondale quote are talking about the personal presence of God, His omnipresence, not another God. Ellen White once said that if “you reject the health message you reject God,” Ser. B, #6, p. 31. Is the health message a God? She also once said that if you reject my writings you reject God. Was she or her writings God? In either of these cases that interpretation would be absurd. Thus it is our belief that here she was stating that to reject the Holy Spirit is in fact rejecting the personal presence of Jesus.
The view that is held by most of Christianity that the Holy Spirit is a separate individual and that he is distinct from Christ is not supported by the Scripture. It is clear that it is Christ who sends of His Spirit to work with us. He Himself is present with us in this way. We have learned that there are only two beings in the entire universe worthy of our worship and praise; the Father and the Son.
The concept that there are three beings that possess Divinity is false; there are only two. The Father and the Son are the only beings worthy of our worship and praise; they alone are Divine or have divinity. They are one because they share the same Spirit, the Father’s Spirit from whom all things come. This understanding is the key to unlocking all the problems that have existed.
“ Before the last developments of the work of apostasy there will be a confusion of faith. There will not be clear and definite ideas concerning the mystery of God. One truth after another will be corrupted…. Great is the mystery of godliness…. He was the only-begotten Son of God, who was one with the Father from the beginning” EGW ST 5/28/1894 :1.
In searching for truth, “You must lay your preconceived opinions, your hereditary and cultivated ideas, at the door of investigation. If you search the Scriptures to vindicate your own opinions, you will never reach the truth. Search in order to learn what the Lord says, If conviction comes as you search, if you see that your cherished opinions are not in harmony with the truth, do not misinterpret the truth in order to suit your own belief, but accept the light given. Open mind and heart that you may behold wondrous things out of God’s world” COL 112.

“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…. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” John 3:16, 18.

Who is the Holy Spirit?
Now we will look at how Ellen White viewed the Holy Spirit. We will see if she indeed believed that it was God the Holy Spirit or if it was instead the Holy Spirit of God; there is a vast difference. We must remember that she was not just using her thoughts and opinions, but that she was God’s Messenger to reveal His guidance and teachings. We need to look at the whole picture that is given before we can reasonably determine exactly what an author actually believed on the subject. I believe that when we do this we will see that she was in complete harmony with Scriptures and with the other pioneer brethren of the Adventist faith as well.
“ Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col. 1:27. That is the text that changed our lives. But we really did not understand its full meaning before our understanding of this doctrine. Christ formed within, is the main message of the gospel.
Christ tells us repeatedly that He Himself will come to abide with us. He is the one who comes to our aid in times of need and He is the one that makes His home with us. The Scripture does not say that a different person from Christ, the Holy Spirit, is to be formed within or to dwell within to bring us comfort and power to resist temptation. Christ Himself will accomplish this for us. It is through His Spirit, the Spirit He shares with the Father that this work is to be accomplished. There is no other go-between!!!
“ The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent there of. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth.… By the Spirit the Savior would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high” DA 669 1898 edition; EGW- RH 11/19/1908:3.
“ Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His Father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent” 14MR 23.
“ When God’s people take the position that they are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Christ Himself abiding within, they will so clearly reveal Him in spirit, words, and actions, that there will be an unmistakable distinction between them and Satan’s followers” 1NL 79.
“ The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ” DA 805.
“ By the Spirit the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with you” BE & ST 1-15-1893:8.
“ The Lord Jesus standing by the side of the canvasser, walking with them, is the chief worker. If we recognize Christ as the One who is with us to prepare the way, the Holy Spirit by our side will make impressions in just the lines needed” CM 107.
Who is the Comforter?
“ The reason why the churches are weak and sickly and ready to die, is that the enemy has brought influences of a discouraging nature to bear upon trembling souls. He has sought to shut Jesus from their view as the Comforter, as One who reproves, who warns, who admonishes them, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”” EGW- RH 8/26/1890.
“ As by faith we look to Jesus, our faith pierces the shadow, and we adore God for His wondrous love in giving us Jesus the Comforter” EGW- 19MR 297, 298.
“ In giving us His Spirit, God gives us Himself, making Himself a fountain of divine influences, to give health and life to the world” 7T 273.
“ He (Christ) would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent.” “Christ tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, and the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, “the Spirit of truth, which the Father shall send in My name…” This refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, called the Comforter” 14MR 23, 179
“ The Savior is our Comforter. This I have proved Him to be” 8MR 49.
“ The work of the Holy Spirit is immeasurably great... and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, as the personal presence of Christ to the soul” EGW- RH 11/29/1892.
“ Christ declared that after His ascension, He would send to His church, as His crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take His place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of His life, the efficacy of His church, the light and life of the world. With His Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin” EGW- RH 5/19/1904.
In all of these quotes we are seeing the same line of thinking; Jesus Himself is the Comforter that was sent to work with us. It is His Spirit, His personal presence with us that works in us to mold our characters and transform us into the image of Himself.
Third Person
Mrs. White clearly identifies what she means by the third person of the Godhead; it is the personal presence of Christ, His very life. She does not give the indication at all that we are dealing with a different individual other than Jesus Himself. The Holy Spirit is referred to as a person because it is the personality, or the very life of Christ that is being sent to us.

When confronted with the controversy over the Trinity, many people immediately go to the Index or the CD Rom, and look up ‘Holy Spirit’, and suddenly they are confronted with statement after statement that appear to support the Trinity, and that to them is the end of the argument. If they do study any further, it will be from the perspective of a foregone conclusion. Everything they see will ‘prove’ the Trinity. We are all prone to do this. We must be willing to set aside our own ideas, and allow God to explain His Word to us by His Spirit. Also, as we have mentioned before, another important aid too many in ‘proving’ the Trinity is the book ‘Evangelism’, for it contains very specific quotations that appear conclusive, however, with many statements out of context and subheadings, it become a tool in the hand of Satan to deceive those who are not willing to study deeply.

As quoted earlier, in 1946, men who were surface-readers were given the choice of accepting the statements as fact, or reject the Spirit of Prophecy. Froom stated, “You know what it did with men in the Columbia Union… They either had to lay down their arms, and accept those statements, or else they had to reject the Spirit of Prophecy” Letter from Leroy Froom to Roy Allen Anderson, 1/18/1966. It was a ploy, and most fell for it!

There are other things you need to consider. The prophet has stated that the time of writing is important, as well as the circumstances. She wrote, “Regarding the testimonies, nothing is ignored; nothing is cast aside; but time and place must be considered” 1SM 57. So once again, as mentioned previously, we must take into account that during the time when Sister White used terminology that spoke strongly of the identity and work of the Holy Spirit, there was a reason for it. At the time Ellen White was specifically referring to the Holy Spirit as the third person, talking about the three dignitaries, the heavenly trio, the three great powers, and all like quotes making a surface reader believe that there are three Gods it was for a specific reason. She was combating Kellogg’s teaching of the Trinity and his pantheism.

These quotes used by Ellen White were a powerful testimony showing us the difference between Dr. Kellogg’s philosophical teachings and the majesty of the God of truth. One of the big problems confronting those who are studying this subject is the word ‘persons.’ Immediately a Trinitarian mindset (innocently learned), will think of three separate beings sitting upon their thrones, all co-eternal, and co-equal with each other. But neither the Bible nor the Spirit of Prophecy gives this picture.

The Father is always the divine Source of all things, an eternal Being, without beginning, who has a glorious throne in heaven. The Son is always the only Son, begotten of the Father at some far distant point in eternity. At present He is seated upon His Father’s throne, but soon He will be given the throne of David, His earthly ancestor, and after the millennium will rule the redeemed upon the earth. The Spirit is always the divine presence of the Father (given also to the Son), where He is able to work in every part of the universe. There is no throne of the Spirit mentioned in the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, for the Spirit is the personal presence of the two who are seated upon the Father’s throne.

These are described by the prophet as three living persons, and this is not denied. The Father is a person and He is alive; the Son is a person and He is alive. The Spirit is also a person, but not a third ‘different’ person. Of course, as soon as the phrase ‘Spirit is a person’ is used, the Trinitarian mind jumps to a third co-equal Being, but it is important to remember that Ellen White is comparing the personality of the Spirit with an inanimate essence pervading all nature. The Spirit is not simply a force, but the person of God the Father and His son Jesus Christ in Spirit. If this becomes clear in your mind, then you will have no problem with Ellen White’s statements referring to the ‘three persons’, no matter how they are worded.

If you understand ‘first person’, second person’, and third person’, you will have no problem with the latter term in the quotations given year by year. Ellen White wrote the following in December of 1898, “What gift could He (Christ) bestow rich enough to signalize and grace His (Christ) ascension to the mediatorial throne? It must be worthy of His (Christ) greatness and His royalty. He (Christ) determined to give His (Christ) representative, the third person of the Godhead. This gift could not be excelled” ST 12/1/1898 :2. It was the gift of Himself (Christ) in Spirit. Remember Ellen White states that when Jesus went back to heaven after His resurrection He was given back, from His Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit to give to His children on earth.

When speaking of the “third person of the Godhead’, it is always referred as of the Godhead and not in the Godhead. This may sound like splitting hairs, but it is important. There are not three persons in the Godhead; there are three persons of Godhead. To say ‘in’ would certainly mean three persons make up a triune Godhead. But to use the word ‘of’ gives a completely different picture. This goes back to understanding the ‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third’ person in grammar.

In Christ’s Object Lessons, Ellen White stated, “In Him (Christ) is gathered all the glory of the Father, the fullness of the Godhead (God)”. Jesus was the only begotten Son of God (proceeding from him in eternal ages) as well as the Holy Spirit proceeds from God to the Son and to his created children. The Godhead is the Father; He is the Supreme divine Being of the universe, see the first chapter in The Story of Redemption. The Father is the primary Source. In His bodily form, He sits upon the throne of the universe, and from that position He can direct all the affairs of heaven.

She also wrote another statement in 1896 that was reiterated in The Desire of Ages in 1898. Both of these statements are mostly repeated in numerous other places such as the Review & Herald, Signs of the Times, Southern Watchman, Manuscript Releases, 1888 Materials and elsewhere.

In 1900 Ellen White wrote, “The one baptized is “…a receiver of the pledge from the three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” MS 57, 1900 (similar in other places). “…. (At baptism)… The three great powers in heaven are witnesses; they are invisible, but present” Ibid. This latter point has caused some confusion. Quite obviously, the Father who is seated upon His heavenly throne surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousands angels, and the Son who ministers at His right hand are not present in their glorious forms at every baptism. However, by the Spirit, who is the personal presence of the Father and of the Son, they are indeed present and witnessing the pledge at all baptisms. Remember God and Christ are omnipresent by the Spirit (‘omni’ means ‘all’ or ‘everywhere’).

In 1901 Ellen White wrote a little differently using the terms highlighted. “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three holy dignitaries of heaven…” Man 92/1901. “… made a pledge in the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the three great personal dignitaries of heaven….” Ibid. “We are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three great, infinite powers are unitedly pledged….” MS 144, 1901.

Ask yourself the following questions: Is the Father one of three great powers of heaven? Of course. Is the Son? Yes. Is God’s personal Spirit an infinite power? There is no question. The word ‘dignitary’ means ‘one who holds high office, especially ecclesiastical, or church’. Do the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit hold high office in religious circles? There is no higher than the God of heaven. This terminology was certainly a rebuke to Dr. Kellogg’s essence pervading all nature, and in ‘The Living Temple’, he was referring to all three.

There is another statement written in 1901 that says, “The Godhead was stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption” CH 222. This last quotation was made into a tract by the Sydney Sanitarium, and was taken from an article in the Union Conference Record, of April, 1901. Although the above words are the same as in the tract, this article is different from the original, for it includes the angels. “…the inhabitants of the heavenly universe are appointed…” to assist in the plan of redemption. The leaflet for the Sanitarium has been included in Counsels on Health.

Alongside the book ‘Evangelism’ this is one of the most quoted passages in the whole controversy, because in the 1948 edition of Counsels on Health (and subsequent editions), the word ‘themselves’ has a capital letter; the original did not. This automatically causes the mind to think three Gods as we have always come to denote God as being capitalized. Note the year this was done.

If you will slowly read the following two paragraphs from the 1948 edition (CH, 222) and note whose love is revealed. “It is the glory of the gospel that it is founded upon the principle of restoring in the fallen race the divine image by a constant manifestation of benevolence. This work began in the heavenly courts. There God decided to give human beings unmistakable evidence of the love with which He (God) regarded them. He (God) ‘so loved the world that He (God) gave His (God) only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him (God) should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16.

“The Godhead (God) was stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption. In order fully to carry out this plan, it was decided that Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, should give Himself (Jesus) an offering for sin. What line can measure the depth of this love? God would make it impossible for man to say that He (God) could have done more. With Christ, He (God) gave all the resources of heaven that nothing might be wanting in the plan for man’s uplifting” CH 222

You can see that in the beginning and the end of the quote the principle actor is God. The word ‘Godhead’ does not necessarily mean that ‘the three’ were stirred with pity, which is the first reaction, but the Father was stirred with pity for the fallen race. If you read the first paragraph again, you will see that it was the Father who was stirred enough to send His beloved Son. And in the second paragraph, again it is the Father who gave all the resources of heaven. Again, it is the Father which is the principle actor and originator.

Another query appear to say “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption” (This is also made reference to in Matthew 28, baptizing in the name of…) In this quote in Counsels on Health gave themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption, meaning they ‘worked the plan out’ together, is not in harmony with many other Spirit of Prophecy statements. “The plan of salvation devised by the Father and the Son will be a grand success.” ST 6/17/1903. “Before the fall of man, the Son of God had united with His Father in laying the plan of salvation” R&H 9/13/1906. “A covenant has been entered into by the Father and by the Son to save the world through Christ” ST 10/10/1892. “In counsel together, the Father and the Son determined that Satan should not be left unchecked to exercise his cruel power upon man” MS 31, 1911.

Remember, “Christ… is the ONLY being who can enter into all the counsels and purpose of God” PP 34, and the Bible says; “…the counsel of peace was between them both” Zechariah 6: 12, 13.

Two points should be noted. Firstly, the Spirit of God is always a part of God Himself, even though He can operate by that Spirit elsewhere in the universe. Secondly, ‘working out the plan’ can also mean ‘fulfilling the plan’, not ‘formulating’ it. In the 1828 Dictionary, ‘work out’ means ‘to effect by labor and exertion.’ It does not mean ‘to devise a plan of labor.’ but the actual working out of the plan already formulated. A text given as a reference in the dictionary is Philippians 2:13: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This does not mean to devise a plan, but to co-operate with God in His plan.

If you will read the reference again, you will be able to see that the three great powers of heaven ‘gave themselves to the working out of the plan (already established) of redemption”, a plan that had been formulated by the Father and the Son in the councils of heaven prior to the creation of the earth. At the fall of man, the working out of the plan began. The plan of salvation was already worked out, now the plan sadly had to be implemented.

In 1902 and 1903 Ellen White used the term ‘three great powers of heaven’ a number of times: “As you openly renounced sin and Satan, the three great powers of heaven pledged themselves to help you to overcome” ST 2/12/1902. “…let us not forget that the three great powers of heaven are working…” RH 5/5/1903. Also in 1904 she wrote to W. W. Prescott the following: “…the solemn rite of baptism, the three highest powers in the universe – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – place their approval on his act, pledging themselves to exert their power in his behalf as he strives to honor God… The three great powers of heaven pledge themselves….” 1/26/1904. Although Prescott, later succumbed to the doctrine of the Trinity, he did not consider Ellen White writing in a Trinitarian mindset at that time for in 1928 Prescott gave a radio broadcast where he state, “Plainly, the coming of the Comforter is the coming of Jesus in the Spirit… We have a Comforter or Advocate in Heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous, there present in a bodily form, just as he ascended from this earth, and we have in our hearts the same Jesus in the Spirit, the other Comforter who is just Jesus’ other self.”

Many times in 1904 and 1905, Ellen White used the phrase ‘three highest powers of heaven.” She also wrote the following, “The three great and glorious heavenly characters are present on the occasion of baptism. All the human capabilities are to be henceforth consecrated powers to do service for God… All heaven is represented by these three in covenant relation with the new life” MS 45, 1904.

All heaven would include the angels, who are ministering spirits sent to minister to fallen man. This was stated in the original article of the Union Conference Record of April 1, 1901 where it stated, “The inhabitants of the heavenly universe are appointed to go forth to come into close touch with human instrumentalities who act as God’s helping hand. In the performance of this mission of love, angels mingle with the fallen race, ministering to those who shall be heirs of salvation. Divine agencies unite in the work of restoring the image of God in man. All who partake of the nature are appointed by God to unite with the angels in carrying forward with untiring zeal the plan of redemption” 6 MR 389, also Letter B12, 1901.

During 1905, Ellen White wrote to Kellogg of “the three highest powers of heaven” who work through us (SpT Series B, #7, p. 51 and other places). In 1906 she introduces the term the “three great worthies of heaven” (Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, 10/20/1906). In 1907, she used the term “three great agencies” Man. 67, 1907. But nothing had changed in her meaning. She also called the Holy Spirit “a regenerating agent” DA 671. We found that she stated earlier that time and place must be considered, and that is what must be considered.

All of these references to the ‘three’ were during the time of J. H. Kellogg. She was telling us that the three agencies (not gods) of Heaven work through human beings and not inanimate objects; the trees, flowers, animals etc. as Kellogg believed. That was to combat his pantheism. She also always referred to only the Father and the Son as deserving worship, sitting on the throne, and being in the counsels of Heaven.

Uriah Smith in 1891 delivered a sermon in which he stated that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and Christ, and that it is “the divine mysterious emanation” through which they carry forward their great and infinite work of salvation. He also said it “is the agency through which life is imparted, it is the medium through which all God’s blessings and graces come to His people…” similar to the wording of Ellen White. Conference Daily Bulletin 3/14/1891

In 1908 and 1909 Ellen White used the term “the three great (or highest) powers in heaven” a number of times, and in 1909 she stated it this way; “When men and women, truly converted, are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, these three representatives of heavenly authority behold the scene, and accept the vows made by human agents to walk henceforth in newness of life.” Letter 174, 12/21/1909, Man. Rel. 29. There is no question they can all behold the scene, for although the Father and Jesus are in heaven, they are omniscient – all-seeing, all-knowing.

In 1910 the final statement of this kind was made which says, “As at our baptism…. (we) received the ordinance in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, these three great powers of heaven pledged themselves to work in our behalf….” GC Bulletin, 4/14/1910.

These statements from 1901 to 1910 have been repeated a number of times in Spirit of Prophecy writings, whether by Ellen White or by church leaders, and it is not understood that there are any other statements different than these. If one or two are found, their meaning would be the same as meant by Ellen White in every case, for she did not contradict herself- she was inspired by the Spirit of God.

When Ellen White talked about the mysteries of the Holy Spirit, especially to a Brother Chapman, she was referring to him going in the direction that Kellogg went into; areas that God has not clearly revealed. Kellogg was teaching pantheism and Chapman was teaching that the Holy Spirit was a separate being other than the Father and the Son. It was not the Trinity he was teaching, but that the Holy Spirit was the angel Gabriel. Room is not sufficient to go into all the details of his teachings.

Chapman thought he had new light, and unfortunately, there are many who are making a similar mistake, not in believing that the Holy Spirit is the angel Gabriel, but in presenting a false understanding of God as new light. Not only that, but they are gathering a mass of Scripture (and Spirit of Prophecy) to support their view on a triune God, rather than seeking to be in harmony with truth. There are also people who are following Kellogg’s example and presenting philosophical sentiments to describe the doctrine of the Trinity, and it is for both these errors that Ellen White gave the counsel ‘silence is golden.’

A Roman Catholic writer stated, “The doctrine of the triune God gathers up in a remarkable way the findings of our philosophical theology, and forms a close bond between the expositions of philosophical and symbolic theology” Principles of Christian Theology, Revised ed. John Macquarie, p. 188, 198, 199.

So we can see from all of the before mentioned Spirit of Prophecy references between 1901 and 1910 that Ellen White was combating Kellogg’s belief of the Trinity which opened the door for his pantheistic ideas. She went to great pains to make it quite clear that she did not believe or endorse any of his teachings. That brings us to our last point on this subject, which would be to ask the question, if the prophet believed the Trinity from the beginning why did she state that the pioneers were all in harmony? On the other hand if she was non-Trinitarian as were her peers, and changed her belief at the turn of the century, she was accusing Dr. Kellogg of removing the same pillar she herself had removed. It cannot be both ways!

Ellen White referred to three agencies, personalitities, dignitaries’ etc. of Heaven, but never does she state there were three Gods.

“Christ alone was able to represent the Deity. He who had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning, He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone sufficient to accomplish this work… God Himself must be revealed to humanity, (not Jesus), In order to do this, our Saviour clothed His divinity with humanity…He lived out the character of God through the human body which God had prepared for Him” 7BC 924; RH 6-25-1895.

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