Hope International - New Zealand
Hope International - New Zealand
Health Ministries & Christian Publishers
Health Ministries & Christian Publishers


I was recently confronted by a concerned lady during a Sabbath afternoon meeting. I had mentioned that during the 'revision' of the 1931 Seventh-day Adventist Fundamentals, the fundamental about the Pope being the Man of Sin had been removed. In her interjection this lady claimed the church still teaches that the Pope is the Man of Sin. The point I made was while that may be so with some preachers, we still have a right to know who took that fundamental out. The conversation digressed to the definition of sin. She mentioned that sin was a "broken relationship" and that I was trying to put words in her mouth that sin was the transgression of the law. I replied that the Bible made that clear in I John 3:4: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." I added that the Spirit of Prophecy supported the Bible's definition of sin. "The only definition we find in the Bible for sin is that 'sin is the transgression of the law' (1 John 3:4)." 1SM 320.

Despite this clear statement from the Spirit of Prophecy, many trained in our universities are confused as to what constitutes sin. They little realise they are fulfilling a prophecy from 9T 267: "...Those who have permitted their minds to become beclouded in regard to what constitutes sin are fearfully deceived. Unless they make a decided change they will be found wanting when God pronounces judgment upon the children of men. They have transgressed the law and broken the everlasting covenant, and they will receive according to their works."

In this inspired statement, we see the results of cause and effect. Those who did not know the true definition of sin transgressed the law, broke the everlasting covenant and would be lost. I have found that when quoting I John 3:4 as the definition of sin, some pastors have immediately quoted Romans 14:23: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." They wrongly reason that this explanation contradicts I John 3:4 and would somehow allow for them to be saved in their sins. If the Bible is in harmony, then the two verses cannot contradict each other. They must agree, or God is at loggerheads with Himself. The simple explanation is that you cannot keep the Commandments of God other than through the faith of Jesus.

Those who have read the Old Testament with an honest heart could only conclude that sin is a choice and sin is transgression of the Law of God. The centre of the world was Israel. "This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her." Ezekiel 5:5. The centre of Israel was Jerusalem. The centre of Jerusalem was the Temple. The centre of the Temple was the Most Holy Place. The centre of the Most Holy Place was the Ark of the Covenant. The centre of the Ark of the Covenant was the Law of God. It was the Law of God that Adam and Eve broke. It was the Law of God that Satan said could not be kept. It was the Law of God which Jesus Christ came as a man with our fallen nature and proved could be kept. "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable." Isaiah 42:21.

Christ kept the law perfectly and urged His followers to do likewise. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." John 15:10. Christ believed that sin was a choice, for He told the woman the church leaders had caught in adultery to, "go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). In another encounter, He told the crippled man of 38 years to take up his bed and walk, and "sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14). The disciples continued to preach the gospel with power to have victory over sin.

At this point, one may question where the New Theology left the rails of God's truth once given to the saints. Without a doubt, it started with the doctrine of original sin, which claims that when Adam and Eve sinned (by their choice) every one of their offspring was a sinner by birth. The consequences of this doctrine requires Roman Catholics to rush their newborn babies to the church to be christened. Eventually those who followed this doctrine asked the inevitable question, "How was Jesus spared from being a sinner also?". They all agreed that Christ was not a sinner, so invented another doctrinal error to ease the results of the consequences of the first error. They concluded that Mary was immaculately conceived in order to protect Jesus from the curse of original sin. While on one hand this made their false doctrines logical, it divorced Christ from the fallen race exactly where they needed help in their battle with sin.

This false doctrine led to the Dark Ages. The people were kept in darkness by a priesthood debauched in sin. It was the reading of the Bible by God-fearing priests that broke the Rome's bondage over the deluded people who were drowning in sin. It was the power of God through His Word that caused the light of His love to shine. Rome taught all who would listen that you were saved in your sins through the church. Protestantism shouted to a deceived world that we had an individual responsibility to, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12,13.

No one could stop someone else from receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour by binding them to manmade rules and traditions. Popery hated the Protestant Reformation because it broke their control over the people through the old world order of the union of Church and State. Popery was an avowed enemy of democracy. They believed in the rule by the divine right of kings under the control and guidance of the church. The doctrine of original sin did not allow people, through democracy, to elect their own representatives or make their own decisions in life. The church claimed to provide the way of salvation to all good Catholics from the cradle to the grave.

The Protestant Reformation revived the lost power of the gospel which Paul was not ashamed of. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth... For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Romans 1:16-18.

Wherever the Reformation went, it transformed nations in every way far above those still steeped in Roman Catholicism. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34.

God condemned the doctrine of original sin because it had caused the demise of old Israel in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made said; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." Ezekiel 13:22. In this verse we see the preachers were offering people salvation without giving up their wicked ways. This is, in essence, the New Theology.

"What mean ye that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:2-4. Here God shows that sin is a choice and is not inherited by the sons in the genes of the fathers who ate sour grapes.

In Jeremiah 31:29 we follow the same scenario of the sour grapes and the children's teeth being set on edge, which is the same doctrine as today's original sin. God specifically points out in verse 30, "But every one shall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." In verse 33, God promises that He will make a new covenant. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." These are repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16. Here we see that we will not put the Law in our own heart, but God will write it there with his own power if we submit to Him through His Word, and the Holy Spirit.

We are told that the pure in heart shall see God. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8.

Those who seek righteousness shall be satisfied. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6.

One may ask, what righteousness is this? I have heard this question on the streets from the charismatic Christians who believe that they are saved and that the Law of God is a law of bondage which was nailed to the cross. Fortunately, God has not left us  perplexed on this important matter, for He is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). The psalmist recorded under inspiration, "My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness." Psalm 119:172. This verse shows that  righteousness is unattainable other than through keeping God's Law through His imparted power.

The doctrine of original sin came into Catholicism through 'Saint' Augustine after he manufactured it to fit in with his failed life. Today some Protestants and some Seventh-day Adventists are echoing Augustine's plight. They want the things of this world and salvation without the  cross to bear. In the parable of the sower some seeds fell among thorns, "and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matt. 13:22).

One day an Adventist elder met me in a library and set upon me by claiming we could not keep the commandments of God. I said, "Which one are you having a problem with?" We went through them  and found the problematic one. He then created a diversion by saying that I'd said I was perfect. I said I had never made that claim and never would.

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job: and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." Job 1:1. Thanks to the doctrine of original sin, many modern Bibles have revised the 'dirty' word perfect. In Job 9:20, Job stated that if he said he was perfect it would prove him perverse. God said Job was perfect, but Job would never open his mouth to say such a thing. We can only conclude that the closer we come to Christ, the less we think of ourselves. A preacher once said, "We knew Pastor Brown was perfect until he said he was, then we knew he wasn't".

Another pastor, trained at Avondale and infected with the God-dishonouring doctrine of original sin, said to me, "I'll be sinning till Jesus comes!". I replied, "I know you will, and you'll be lost forever." The Devil works on cause and effect. If he can get you to believe you cannot overcome sin, he will also make sure that you don't. The promise is to the overcomers. God does not differentiate between unfallen Adam and fallen humanity when He requires perfect obedience to His Ten Commandments.

"That which God required of Adam before his fall was perfect obedience to His law. God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness without a flaw, without shortcoming in His sight." 2SM 381.

"Exact obedience is required, and those who say it is not possible to live a perfect life throw upon God the imputation of injustice and untruth." RH 4, p.  519.

"He who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from sinning has not the faith that will give him entrance to the kingdom of God." RH, March 10, 1904.

"Satan declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God, and thus charged God with a lack of wisdom and love. If they, the sons and daughters could not keep the law, then there was fault with the law giver. Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God." ST, January 16, 1896.

When God asks His children to be perfect the only question we can ask is, "How Lord?" The answer is: "And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word." Revelation 12:11.

 

March - April 2021 (#2)
To download, click the description...
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." John 17:15
by Evan Sadler...
Leave a comment
Note: HTML is not translated!