From Adventism To Deeper Cultic Beliefs
I have a question. My daughter is part of a group that believes that Christ was born not when He came as a baby, but before, in eternity past. The famous word that confuses her is “begotten”. I have read; I have researched, but I cannot find anything that will change her belief. I have looked up “begotten”, and I have tried to understand it. But I can’t seem to get its meaning clear enough for me to explain it to her.
She and I joined an Adventist church in the late 90’s. Praise the Lord, I got out, thanks to your organization and my reading the Scriptures, especially Galatians. It took me six months to get this indoctrination out of me.
She remained, but eventually she left the conference church to go to an even more strict sect. I don’t know how many organizations she has been a part of, but her journey keeps getting deeper and deeper into off-the-wall beliefs. Although she says she is not an Adventist, she still studies Ellen White.
Also, with her believing that Christ is not part of the Trinity, is she in any danger of losing her salvation? I know she loves the Lord, but I can’t understand all the legalism under which she is living—and now there’s this.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: I am so, so sorry about your daughter.
First, the word “begotten” is a word that has the meaning “unique one”. An alternate translation is God gave His only “unique, one of His kind” Son. It does not mean “born” or brought forth as we think of physical birth.
There is mystery associated with the persons of the Trinity which we cannot explain fully, but we know that the Lord Jesus clearly identified Himself as Yahweh, the LORD God, over and over. Perhaps the clearest place is John 8:58 when Jesus told the Jews, “Before Abraham was born, I Am.” That is why the Jewish leaders were in such a rage; He was identifying Himself as almighty, eternal God!
I believe that a your daughter is going deeper into cultic beliefs because she is feeding herself on the writings of a false prophet who specialized in deception, writing about God and salvation but doing so deceptively so that the unwary understand Scripture in a different way. Whenever people attempt to make Scripture harmonize with an extra-biblical prophet, they are not trusting and believing God. They are instead using a human commentator to guide their understanding, and they are being deceived.
It’s possible that your daughter has never trusted the Lord Jesus alone. It’s possible that she actually needs to hear the pure gospel taught clearly and also for her to realize her true need: she is born dead and must be brought to life through faith in the Lord Jesus’s finished work. It’s also possible that the Lord will use someone outside those she loves the most to help her see because often people are resistant to their family, feeling nuances of shame and defensiveness that are not your fault.
I believe that the Lord will help you to know how to love her for Him as you entrust her to the Lord. Ask Him to show her her true need and to show you what to say, when to say it, and how to do it. Know that the Lord loves her even more than you do—and trust Him with her. He will deal with her. He is so faithful!
I pray that the Lord will bless you and give you peace as you deal with her, and that He will not give her peace until she trusts in Him.
Was Jesus’ Life a Test?
I am in an ongoing online discussion, and I am at a loss to know how to explain something. I’m beginning to think that it is useless.
This person, who I believe is Adventist, insists that Jesus was just like us, and His entire life was “testing”. This means that He could have failed.
I have pointed out that He knew from before creation that He would succeed and that with His non-sinful nature, He had no inclination to sin. But I still get the same responses—it was all a test and He could have failed.
Is there even a way to explain it? This person does not seem to recognize the idea of a fallen, sin nature but insists that Jesus was just like us and could have failed.
I am on the verge of not pressing the matter, but I wonder if you have any better way of explaining it.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: I believe their explanation (derived from EGW’s scenario) is that Jesus had to pass a test because Adam had to pass a test. She teaches that Adam was on probation as he was given the test of the forbidden tree. He failed the test. Jesus had to come and pass his test (as He was tempted in the wilderness by Satan) in order to do what Adam couldn’t do and to be the new example for the human race.
It’s all really convoluted and involves their not realizing the spiritual reality of man nor the complete divinity of Jesus. But EGW says Jesus was the second Adam and that He passed the test. I was taught that if Jesus couldn’t have sinned, he couldn’t have been our Savior. So, so backwards!!
They have no sense of Jesus’ being literally spiritual alive, never a sinner in nature nor impulse. They can’t even talk about what Jesus did and experienced because they deny spiritual death.
I don’t know of any way to explain this to an Adventist or other sort of unbeliever. They don’t see Jesus as Yahweh, the eternal almighty God!
I don’t know how to get through unless they have a desire to know what is true about Jesus. Sometimes I recommend that these “diminished Jesus” people read the gospel of John. †
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