XXXVIII - 3(05)

“Watchman,

what of the night?”

"The hour has come, the hour is striking and striking at you,
the hour and the end!"          Eze. 7:6 (Moffatt)

The Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty

It Is Pending!

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Interpretive History of Incarnation - IV (Part2)

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Editor's Preface

Recent events and the forces at work behind the events as indicated in prophetic Scripture indicate that the final phase of the great controversy between Christ and Satan has begun. The final battle is pending. It dare not be overlooked that the revelation given to John on Patmos clearly and unequivocally stated that the "frog" symbols coming out of the mouth of the "dragon, ... and the beast" ... and the "false prophet" ... "are the spirits of devils" (Rev. 16:13-14). These spirits of evil gather the rulers of earth into one great combine or ecumenical assembly for the final phase of the "war" (Greek) of the great day of God Almighty. It begins by the "false prophet" suggesting to those who "dwell on the (prophetic) earth" that they should make an "image to the beast" (Rev. 13:14).

In this issue we conclude the documentation of Jones and Waggoner's teaching on the Incarnation, noting their conviction that this doctrine cannot be separated from the message of righteousness by faith. Our faith needs to rest in the same heavenly "Father" in and on Whom Jesus in His earthly life rested and was victorious. He as our great High Priest obtains for us the victory in the final atonement as we look to Him.

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The Battle of the Great - - -

Day of God Almighty

It is Pending!

The book of Revelation designates three powers symbolically represented as the "dragon," the "beast," and the "false prophet" which vomit out "frogs," which are defined as "spirits of devils" which in turn "go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle (πολεμον - war) of that great day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14). They are gathered "together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Har-Magedon" (verse 16, ARV).

These powers - the dragon, beast, and false prophet - are defined symbolically in chapters 12 and 13, and placed in a locality, "heaven, "sea," or "earth." In the 12th Chapter, "heaven" is used either as the screen on which the drama is portrayed (vs. 1, 3) or heaven itself from which is heard "a loud voice" (verse 10). Beginning with verse 12, the warfare is transferred to the earth and sea, a "beast" rising up out of the sea (13:1);" and a second beast "coming up out of the earth" (13:11). This second beast is designated as the false prophet. Compare Rev. 13:14 with 19:20.

The first beast is a composite animal with parts from a leopard, bear and lion, thus linking it with the symbolism of Daniel 7, but in reverse order. The time allotted to the "beast" (13:5) parallels the time given the "little horn" in Daniel 7 (verse 25), and the wilderness experience of the woman of Rev. 12 (verse 14).

We have interpreted the "false prophet" as symbolic of apostate Protestantism, and rightly so, but we have failed to recognize that the second "beast' came up out of the "earth," not the "sea" where "historic Protestantism" under Luther originated. It is an evangelical "Protestantism" originating in the prophetic "earth," which has now become "the political religious right." It was coming up "in" the earth at the same time that the deadly wound was being healed in the "sea" following World War 1. It could not exercise the power assigned it in Rev. 13:12 until the deadly wound "was healed." The message to "make an image to the beast" is spoken to "them that dwell on the earth" (13:14), in other words, the electorate. Then the image once formed would proceed to fulfil the prophecy (13:15-17).

We must see the "beast" as it operates to perceive more accurately the image being formed. Let us consider just one aspect - the persecution initiated by the "beast." "It was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them" (13:7). A Roman Catholic professor, Alfred Baudrillart, wrote that "the Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty" and that she "loudly proclaims that she has 'a horror of blood.' Βut -----

Nevertheless, when confronted by heresy, she does not content herself with persuasion; argument of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She creates tribunals like the Inquisition, she calls the laws of the state to her aid, if necessary she encourages a crusade, or a religious war, and all her "horror of blood" practically culminates in urging the secular power to shed it, which proceeding is almost more odious - for it is less frank - than shedding it herself. [Then he cites examples from history] (Source Book for Bible Students, 1940 rev. ed., pp. 408-409).

A simple identification of the "beast" is: it is the religious power which arose from the prophetic "sea" and for "forty and two months" (13:5) used the state to carry out its agenda until the state turned on her and inflicted a "deadly wound." The "image to the beast" would be the creation of a government in the prophetic "earth" which would carry out the agenda of the "false prophet." To this end the "religious right" has been seeking to create through the Christian Coalition a theocratic government which will enact and force their agenda on the people of the United States of America revoking the liberty and freedom so long enjoyed by those dwelling in the prophetic "earth."

A perceptive, documented, analysis of the current situation in the prophetic "earth" is to be found in the Yurica Report prepared by Katherine Yurica, a lawyer, and her Editorial and Research Assistant, Laurie Hall - "The Despoiling of America." This report which was first issued, February 11, 2004, documents "How George W. Bush became the head of a new American Dominionist Church/State" A footnote [# 58] was corrected Nov. 6, 2004. This correction alone is alarming. It reads:

Taking his cue from Leo Strauss, Scalia [the Vatican "voice" on the Supreme Court] argued, a democratic government, being seen as ‘nothing more than the composite will of its individual citizens, has no more moral power or authority than they do as individuals…’ Democracy, according to Scalia, creates problems: it can foster civil disobedience"

The Report begins with a discussion of "The First Prince of the Theocratic States of America:"

It happened quietly, with barely a mention in the media. Only the Washington Post dutifully reported it. And only Kevin Phillips saw its significance in his new book, American Dynasty. On December 24, 2001, Pat Robertson resigned his position as President of the Christian Coalition.

Behind the scenes religious conservatives were abuzz with excitement. They believed Robertson had stepped down to allow the ascendance of the President of the United States of America to take his rightful place as the head of the true American Holy Christian Church.

Robertson's act was symbolic, but it carried a secret and solemn revelation to the faithful. It was the signal that the Bush Administration was a government under God that was led by an anointed President who would be the first regent in a dynasty of regents awaiting the return of Jesus to earth.

Robertson himself had sought to run for the presidency of the United States and entered the primaries as a candidate for the Republican Party. He has promoted via his 700 Club TV show, a political religious movement called Dominionism. Dominionism started with the Gospel teaching of the invisible and spiritual "kingdom of God" and turned this concept into a literal political empire that could be taken by force. Forgetting that Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world," the framers of Dominionism boldly presented a gospel whose purpose was to inspire Christians to enter politics and execute world domination so that Jesus could return to an earth prepared for His earthly rule by His faithful "regents." This cult has gathered in an estimated thirty-five million Americans who calling themselves Christian form the core of the religious right. Unless recognized for what it is, Americans will find themselves living in a theocracy that has already spelled out its intentions to change every aspect of American life including its cultural life, its Constitution and its laws.

This cult, born in Christian Reconstructionism, was founded by the late R. J. Rushdoony. The core included Rushdoony, his son-in-law, Gary North, Pat Robertson, Herb Titus, the former dean of Robertson's Regent University School of Public Policy, Charles Colson, Robertson's political strategist, Tim LaHaye, Gary Bauer, the late Francis Schaeffer, and Paul Crouch, the founder of TBN, the world's largest television network, plus an army of television and radio evangelists and news talk show hosts.

Prior to his death, Schaeffer was the leading evangelical theologian. Appearing on the 700 Club show, he urged revolt against what he termed a humanistic society. While not using the word "Dominionism," he charged that the "dominant culture" in the United States was the humanistic, and that Christians had to regain the dominance. He was joined in this appeal for Christians of the religious right to get into politics by Billy Graham. Appearing on the same show, April 29, 1985, he stated:

I'm for evangelicals running for public office and winning if possible and getting control of the Congress, getting control of the bureaucracy, getting control of the executive branch of government. ... I would like to see every true believer involved in politics in some shape or form.

According to these men, Schaefer, Graham and Robertson, - leading voices in the American protestant church which arose in the "earth," - "God's people" have a moral duty to change the government of the United States.

Already the "Religious Right" has achieved the time table which they set for themselves, that by 2004 they would complete the take over of the American government. Controlling the executive and legislative, they are poised to alter the judicial to their liking.

Into the picture enters US Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. He was appointed to the Court in 1986 by the then President Ronald Reagan. Now, with speculation that William Rehnquist is on the verge of retirement after the diagnosis of thyroid cancer, Scalia may be the leading candidate to take his place. The online edition of the Jerusalem Post (Nov. 23, 2004) reported an appearance of the Justice at the Orthodox synagogue in New York. He used the appearance to assail the notion that the US government should maintain a neutral stance toward religion maintaining that "the founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state."

Another interesting aspect has been noted by Pastor Rich Lang of the Trinity United Methodist Church of Seattle, Washington. In a release on Feb. 14, 2004 (ICH) he called attention to the checks and balances of the Constitution which created a system that while not perfect "kept alive the possibility of true democracy." Then he noted: "That dream died in December 2000 when the checks and balances of our Constitution collapsed and George Bush was inserted into the Presidency of the United States." Instrumental in that collapse and "insertion" was Scalia.

One of Scalia's concepts needs to be carefully noted. Several months after the first inauguration of Bush, he wrote in First Things (May 2002) that the Bible teaches and Christians believe "...that government ... derives its moral authority from God. Government is the 'minister of God' with powers to 'revenge,' to 'execute wrath,' including even wrath by the sword...." Placing this concept beside the objective of Dominionism, you think you are reading Revelation 13. Journalist Frederick Clarkson in 1994 warned that Dominionism "seeks to replace democracy with a theocratic elite that would govern by imposing their interpretation of 'Biblical Law.'" He then describes the creation of a new class of citizens:

Women would be generally relegated to hearth and home. Insufficiently Christian men would be denied citizenship, perhaps executed. So severe is this theocracy that it would extend capital punishment [to] blasphemy, heresy, adultery, and homosexuality (Public Eye Magazine, Vol. VIΙΙ, Part 1, 1994; emphasis mine).

In the January 17, 2005 issue of U.S. News & World Report was a Special Report, "The Dobson Way" (pp. 62-71), which is a "must" reading for all who know and are concerned about the prophecy of Revelation 13. The objectives of Focus on the Family, founded by Dobson, are in line with the objective to make Sunday a family day. The Catholic Church has already shifted schedules in many places to make Sunday such a day by celebrating Mass on Saturday night, leaving the Catholic family free to do as they wish on Sunday.

Further, in the article it is noted that Dobson is ready to play "hard ball," threatening any Senator facing re-election in 2006 who filibusters Bush's appointments to the judiciary. Thus the take over of the three branches of the American government, the executive, legislative, and judicial has been accomplished by the election in November. We have only to await the imposition of the theocratic state as envisioned by the Dominionists and "the image" to the beast will have spoken. The "battle" of the great day of God Almighty has been joined.

(For continuity part of page 5, page 6 and page 7 have been consolidated here on page 2. For Original WWN layout see PDF.)  

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Continued from page 7, WWΝ 2(05)

The Doctrine of the
Incarnation As Understood by
Α. T. Jones & E. J. Waggoner

IV (Part 2)

He stated:

Weak as we, sinful as we, simply ourselves, - He went through this world, and never sinned. [1]*He was sinful as we, weak as we, helpless as we, helpless as the man is who is without God; yet by His trust in God, God so visited Him, so abode in Him, so strengthened Him, that, instead of sin ever being manifested, the righteousness of God was always manifested.

But who was He? He was ourselves. Then God has demonstrated once in the world, and to the universe, that He will so come to me and you; and so live with us, as we are in the world today; and will cause His grace and His power to so abide with us; that, in spite of all our sinfulness, in spite of all our weaknesses, the righteousness and the holy influence of God will be manifested to men, instead of ourselves and our sinfulness (ibid. p. 302)

To A. T. Jones, it would be no mystery for God to be manifest in sinless flesh. "But the wonder is that God can do that through and in sinful flesh. That is the mystery of God, - God manifest in sinful flesh." Then he stated:

In Jesus Christ as He was in sinful flesh, God has demonstrated before the universe that He can so take possession of sinful flesh as to manifest His own presence, His power, and His glory, instead of sin manifesting itself. And all that the Son asks of any man, in order to accomplish this in him, is that the man will let the Lord have him as the Lord Jesus did....

Then God will so take us, and so use us, that our sinful selνes shall not appear to influence or effect anybody; but God will manifest His righteous self, His glory, before men, in spite of all ourselves and our sinfulness. That is the truth. And that is the mystery of God, "Christ in you the hope of glory," - God manifest in sinful flesh (Ibid., p. 303).

The "false idea that [Christ] is so holy that it would be entirely unbecoming in Him to come near to us, and be possessed of such a nature as we have, sinful, depraved, fallen human nature" had its source in "the incarnation of that enmity that is against God, and that separates between man and God, the papacy." To accomplish this, "Mary must be born immaculate, perfect, sinless" and "then Christ must be so born of her as to take His human nature in absolute sinlessness from her." But Jones declared for himself [and for all of us] - "I need someone to help me who knows something about sinful nature; for that is the nature that I have; and such the Lord did take. He became one of us." Then Jones challenged those present at the meeting that in the light of a revival of papal power, and the formation of the image to the beast - "having the form of godliness without the reality, without the power" - is not the truth of the incarnation needed as never before so that there can be proclaimed "the real merits of Jesus Christ ..· and His holiness?" (ibid., p. 311).

By the time Jones reached his 16th study, some of the delegates were either openly challenging his presentation of the Incarnation by calling attention to the statements in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, or else were beginning to study carefully what had been presented and

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sought an answer to what appeared to be a contradiction between Jones' presentation and the Spirit of Prophecy. At the close of the study, Jones made the following comment:

Some have found, and all may find, in the Testimonies the statement that Christ has not "like passions as we have." The statement is there; everyone may find it there, of course.

Now there will be no difficulty in any of these studies from beginning to end, if you stick precisely to what is said; whether it be Church or State, separation from the world, or this of Christ in our flesh (Ibid p. 312).

Even though the concept that the Son of God assumed man's fallen nature had been presented with clarity during the previous four years by the “messengers" of the Lord (See bracketed comment, WWN 2 (05), p. 6, col. 1), many were still reluctant to express themselves in regard to this basic truth. At the beginning of his presentations on the Incarnation during these 1895 studies, Jones asked the assembled delegates - "Well, then, in His human nature, when He was upon earth, was He in anywise different from what you are in your human nature tonight?" A stenographer noted the reaction: "[Α few in the congregation responded, 'No')" To this Jones replied - for to him this concept was basic to the teaching of righteousness by faith:

I wish we had heard everybody in the house say, "No," with a loud voice. You are too timid altogether. The Word of God says that, and we are to say, That is so; because there is salvation in just that one thing. No it is not enough to say it that way; the salvation of God for human beings lies in just that one thing. We are not to be timid about it at all. There our salvation lies, and until we get there we are not sure of our salvation. That is where it is. "In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." What for? - 0, "that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." Then don't you see that our salvation lies just there? Do you not see that it is right there that Christ comes to us? He came to us just where we are tempted, and was made like us just where we are tempted; and there is the point where we meet Him - the living Savior against the power of temptation (ibid., p. 233).

In the 17th study, Jones devoted the time answering the questions some had raised because of the statements found in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2. He began the study with these words:

Now as to Christ not having "like passions" with us: In the Scriptures all the way through He is like us, and with us according to the flesh. He is the seed of David according to the flesh. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Don't go too far. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh; not in the likeness of sinful mind. Do not drag His mind into it. His flesh was our flesh; but the mind was "the mind of Christ Jesus" (ibid. p. 327).

In this distinct differentiation, Jones was not only doing what he had done previously, separating between the inherited tendencies to sin common to man, and the habits of sin which men have cultivated by yielding to temptation. On this point, he elucidated as follows:

Our minds have consented to sin. We have felt the enticements of the flesh, and our minds have yielded, our minds have consented, and did the wills and desires of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. The flesh leads, and our minds have followed, and with the flesh the law of sin is served. ...

Now the flesh of Jesus Christ was our flesh, and in it was all that is in our flesh, - all the tendencies to sin that are in our flesh were in His flesh, drawing upon Him to get Him to consent to sin. Suppose He had consented to sin with His mind; what then? Then His mind would have been corrupted, and then He would have become of like passions with us. ... But until that drawing of our flesh is cherished, there is no sin....

Therefore Jesus Christ came in just such a flesh as ours, but with a mind that held its integrity against every temptation, against every inducement to sin, - a mind that never consented to sin, - no, never in the least conceivable shadow of a thought (ibid. p. 328).

During this study Jones quoted from two sources in the Spirit of Prophecy. One was an article in the Review & Herald, July 5, 1887,

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from which he quoted extensively, and the other was a pre-publication copy of the Desire of Ages, which he referred to as "the new Life of Christ, advance copy." After quoting from this advance copy at length, Jones concluded his study with these remarks:

You see, we are on firm ground all the way, so that when it is said that He [Christ] took our flesh; but still as not a partaker of our passions, it is all straight, it is all correct; because His divine mind never consented to sin. Αnd that mind is brought to us by the Holy Spirit that is freely given to us.

"We know that the Son of God has come, and hath given us a mind;" and "we have the mind of Christ." "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Ibid., p. 333).

In 1905 the Pacific Press published, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection by A. T. Jones. This book based in Hebrews contained the same basic concepts in regard to the human nature of our Lord, which he had so clearly presented in the 1895 studies at the General Conference Session. As indicated by the title and summarized in the book, the humanity of the Son of God as the Son of man, and the perfection of character to be manifested by the Christian cannot be separated. Here is that summary:

Perfection, perfection of character, is the Christian goal – perfection attained in human flesh in this world. Christ attained it in human flesh in this world, and thus made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every believer can attain it. He having attained it, has become our great High Priest by His priestly ministry in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain it.

Perfection is the Christian's goal; and the High Priesthood and ministry of Christ in the true sanctuary is the only way by which any soul can attain this true goal in this world. "Thy way, Ο God, is in the sanctuary." Psalm 77:1 (p. 84, emphasis his).

Jones in his studies and presentations during a lifetime of ministry for the Church rescued the truth of the Incarnation of the Son of God presented by Irving during the Second Advent Awakening in England. He freed it from misstatement and overstatement, and placed it in its rightful place in connection with the "final atonement."

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"The last great conflict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the long standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon this battle we are now entering, - a battle between the laws of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition" (Great Controversy, p. 582).

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The Duality of the Fourth Commandment

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, ... (Exodus 20:8-10)

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U.S. Catholic Bishops to Join New

Ecumenical Group

The top hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States decided on November 17th, 2004, to join the broadest alliance of Christian churches in the country so far, a new ecumenical group that would bring the [Catholic] church to the same table as conservative evangelicals and liberal Protestants.

Members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have played a central role in the formation of the group, Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., since discussions began with leaders of other denominations in the fall of 2001. ...

The organization has about 23 members, Rev. Arthur Kennedy (executive director of the secretariat for ecumenical and interreligious affairs at the bishops conference), said, including Eastern Orthodox churches; the historic Protestant denominations, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; evangelical churches; ethnic churches; and religiously oriented groups like the Salvation Army and World Vision.

The National Council of Churches helped create this new group but is not joining, although many of its member churches are. Its general secretary, Rev. Bob Edgar, said, "My sense is that this group is less interested in action items than in building bridges, and having a forum where we can talk together on issues that concern everyone, for example, how do we model interfaith ties with our Muslim and Jewish brethren?" (The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2004 {nytimes.com}).

A question - Has the SDA Church joined? Documentation one way or the other would be welcomed by this editor.