“What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.” -A.W. Tozer
The longer I’ve walked with the Lord the more I’ve understood the depth of truth in those words. What comes into our minds when we think about God not only determines our eternal destiny, it also shapes who we are and how we live. Knowing God is the most important thing we will do in our life—and the enemy knows it.
As an Adventist, what came into my mind when I thought about “god” prevented me from knowing the God of the Bible, and it created profound dysfunction within me. It propelled me into religious pathology and inescapable insecurity. I was dead in my sin walking in the ways of false religion and was without hope.
“But God” (my favorite phrase in the Bible), reached through all of the dark distortion of false religion and rescued me from the kingdom of darkness (Col 1:13,14). By His grace God revealed Himself to me and granted me repentance and a believing heart (Eph. 1:13,14; 2:8). He caused me to be born again through the resurrection power of Christ and has since been at work in me transforming me into the image of His Son and revealing Himself to me in new and deeper ways as I behold Him in His word (1 Pet. 1:3-5; 2 Cor. 3:17; John 17:17).
While it’s true that all the efforts of hell would seek to keep us from knowing God, it’s also true that the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). It is the burden of my heart that all who are deceived by the doctrines of Seventh-day Adventism would come to truly know God, and that all who have been born of God would never cease to grow in their knowledge of Him through His word! It’s for that reason that I want to share with you a resource that will either help you in your study of the nature of Christ, or help you in your discussions with others on this topic.
“Who do you say that I am?”
There were many things we had wrong as Adventists, but the most grievous among them was our understanding of God (Father, Son, and Spirit). Getting God wrong has eternal consequences. If we don’t allow the God of the Bible to bear out His own testimony about Himself and we choose instead to believe another’s testimony, it doesn’t matter what else we may get “right” because in that act we’ve already rejected God.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the most important question we will answer as humans. While groups like Seventh-day Adventism (with their secret knowledge, visions, and prophet) would like you to think otherwise, the truth about who Jesus is can only be found through the testimony of God in the pages of Scripture.
“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son,” (1 John 5:9-10).
When we choose instead to trust a different testimony, we call God a liar. What is God’s testimony?
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,” (1 John 5:11-13).
Adventism does not share this testimony. Adventism says that we can’t know we’re saved until after the completion of the investigative judgement; however, the tenses in the verses above indicate otherwise. Furthermore, Ellen White said it was a sin to say you’re saved, but read again what the Holy Spirit tells us in verse 13. More egregious yet is what Adventism does with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Adventism’s Multigenerational Attack on the Son of God
From it’s inception Adventism has gotten Jesus wrong. The argument goes that if Jesus had all of God’s attributes during His life on earth, then He couldn’t have shown God’s law to be fair because He would’ve had divine advantages which allowed Him to “cheat”, thereby defeating the purpose of sending Him to vindicate the law. The Jesus of Adventism was created through, by, and for Adventism, and he does not resemble the eternal Son of God.
The Adventist founders were Arian and anti-trinitarian, and they died that way—despite contemporary claims to the contrary. While Adventist material may have appeared to sound more trinitarian over time, the basic teachings of the Adventist “godhead” are not Trinitarian. Even today many Seventh-day Adventists argue that Ellen G. White never taught the “Roman Catholic Trinity”.
Just recently I had the most horrifying experience of watching a discussion on social media between several anti-trinitarian Seventh-day Adventists (some of whom were in ministry) who were explaining how Adventism apostatized when they came to accept the “corrupt” doctrine of the Trinity. They twisted text after text, “proving” from the writings of Ellen White that Jesus was not God and that to say otherwise was idolatry.
As I sat there feeling sick, my heart ached for those who were learning from these twisted doctrines of demons. Older men with attributed authority were arrogantly teaching the generations behind them to think as they, passing on the heresies that had been passed down to them and which they had fought for with great zeal all their lives and ministries.
This zealous fight against God’s truth is not unique to these men; it marks the pages of Seventh-day Adventist history from its inception, and it will not die with these men.
Jesus Christ is God.
One of my greatest blessings of 2020 has been studying passages of Scripture which emphasize the deity of Christ as Colleen Tinker and I work together co-hosting the Former Adventist Podcast. While preparing for the Colossians 1:15-23 episode, I decided to listen to one of my favorite pastors exposit those incredible verses about the nature of Christ.
Dr. Steven Lawson preached his sermon at a collegiate event in Palm Springs, California. It can be found here: “Who is Jesus Christ?”. I cannot more strongly recommend listening to it in its entirety, but if you only want to hear the portion I’m going to share here, it begins at the 15:00 mark.
In his sermon, Dr. Lawson passionately declared, “Jesus Christ is God. This is the point of departure between Biblical Christianity and every heresy, every false religion, every cult, and every religious movement that is outside of the Kingdom of God. This is the point of departure every time. It is the person and work of Christ, and it begins with departure from the deity of Christ. This is not incidental. This is fundamental. And except we say ‘Jesus Christ is God,’ there can be no true saving faith in Christ.”
Dr. Lawson explained that a day would come when these students would have a knock at their door from a group that would seek to tell them that Jesus is not truly God. He then offered them five ways to think through the deity of Christ and told them to write them on the inside of their Bibles so that they are prepared when false teachers come.
For those of us who were raised inside of a false religion rooted in Arianism, the following truths are all the more important to keep on hand, to meditate upon, and to truly seek to understand. Perhaps you are already clear on the nature of the Lord Jesus; even so, the following outline is one you can print and share with others. Whatever situation you find yourself in, I believe it is good for us all to have these truths tucked inside of our Bibles and ultimately hidden within our hearts.
Five Ways to Think Through the Deity of Christ
Scripture reveals that the divine and incommunicable attributes of God also belong to Jesus.
- Omnipotence- “All authority has been given to me…” (Matt 28:18)
- Omniscience- “He knew all men…” (John 2:24)
- Omnipresence- “Lo I am with you always…” (Matt. 28:20)
- Immutable- “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Heb. 13:8)
- Sovereign- He is the Firstborn (Col. 1:15,18; Rev 1:5)
His Divine Works: Jesus does what only God can.
- Creates out of nothing. (Col 1:16,17; John 1:3)
- Sustains and maintains the universe. (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3)
- Forgives Sin. (Mark 2:10)
- Raises the dead. (John 11:38-44)
- Judges all men. (Romans 2:16; Acts 7:31)
- Sends the Holy Spirit. (John 15:26)
Divine Names: Jesus is called names only God is called.
- God- (Heb. 1:8)
- Lord
- King of Kings and Lord of lords
- I AM ( 7 statements in John’s gospel and at His arrest/trial)
Jesus receives worship only God can receive.
- By angels- (Heb 1:6)
- By men- (Mt 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 20:20; 28:17; Mk. 5:6; Jn 9:38)
- By all people at the end of time- (Rm 14:11; Ph. 2:10,11)
Divine Equality
- We are to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Mt. 28: 18-20)
- “The Word was God.”- (John 1:1)
- “My Lord and my God.”- (John 20:28)
- “… from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”- (Romans 9:5)
- “Our great God and savior Jesus Christ.”- (Titus 2:13)
- “Our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”- (2 Pt. 1:1)
- “…we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”- (1 Jn 5:20)
Scripture is clear: the Lord Jesus Christ is God and always has been.
Know God
While we will never come to the end of knowing God, I pray that we would all actively seek to grow in our knowledge of Him by his Spirit through His Word. Knowing God is the greatest privilege of our life, “…This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” (John 17:3).
Knowing and trusting God not only saves us, it is also what changes us. As we behold His glory in the face of Christ, He is faithful to transform us into the image of the beloved Son. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit,” (2 Cor. 3:18).
I pray today that if you hear His voice calling you out of Adventism and into the glorious gospel of the beloved Son, that you will not harden your heart. I pray that if you recognize that you’ve been deceived by the Adventist narrative about God that you will repent of that deceptive view of God and that you will pray to know Him according to His own testimony about Himself. When you do, pick up your Bible and begin to read knowing that He who is faithful will never fail you.
The following resources will be helpful in pointing out the hidden Adventist beliefs about God and correcting them with biblical truth:
Articles
Videos
Podcast
- We Can’t Stay To Make a Difference - March 21, 2024
- Rejoice Together at the Former Adventist Conference - January 25, 2024
- We Give Thanks In All Seasons - November 16, 2023