Setting up the wrong Fundamental Principles

You might ask yourself: how could it be possible that we, as a church, have gone astray from the light God gave us in the beginning? The answer to this question is the same answer to the question why the Jews went astray from the light God gave them concerning His Son. Please, take a look at the driving force behind the church in Apostolic times and our time.

Ellen G. White:

‘The angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.’ [Acts 5:19, 20.] We see here that the men in authority are not always obeyed, even though they may profess to be teachers of Bible doctrines. There are many today who feel indignant and aggrieved that any voice should be raised presenting ideas that differ from their own in regard to points of religious belief. Have they not long advocated their ideas as truth? So the priests and rabbis reasoned in apostolic days. What mean these men who are unlearned, some of them mere fishermen, who are presenting ideas contrary to the doctrines which the learned priests and rulers are teaching the people? They have no right to meddle with the fundamental principles of our faith.

Lt38-1896.23; 1896

Ellen G. White:

“But we see that the God of heaven sometimes commissions men to teach that which is regarded as contrary to the established doctrines. Because those who were once the depositaries of truth became unfaithful to their sacred trust, the Lord chose others who would receive the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and would advocate truths that were not in accordance with the ideas of the religious leaders. And then these leaders, in the blindness of their minds, give full sway to what is supposed to be righteous indignation against the ones who have set aside cherished fables. They act like men that have lost their reason. They do not consider the possibility that they themselves have not rightly understood the Word. They will not open their eyes to discern the fact that they have misinterpreted and misapplied the Scriptures, and have built up false theories, calling them fundamental doctrines of the faith.“

Lt38-1896.24; 1896

Ellen G. White:

But the Holy Spirit will from time to time reveal the truth through its own chosen agencies; and no man, not even a priest or ruler, has a right to say, You shall not give publicity to your opinions, because I do not believe them. That wonderful ‘I’ may attempt to put down the Holy Spirit’s teaching. Men may, for a time, attempt to smother it and kill it; but that will not make error truth or truth error. The inventive minds of men have advanced speculative opinions in various lines, and when the Holy Spirit lets light shine into human minds, it does not respect every point of man’s application of the word. God impressed his servants to speak the truth irrespective of what men had taken for granted as truth.

Lt38-1896.25; 1896

Ellen G. White:

Even Seventh-day Adventists are in danger of closing their eyes to truth as it is in Jesus, because it contradicts something which they have taken for granted as truth, but which the Holy Spirit teaches is not truth. Let all be very modest, and seek most earnestly to put self out of the question, and to exalt Jesus. In most of the religious controversies, the foundation of the trouble is that self is striving for the supremacy. About what? About matters which are not vital points at all, and which are regarded as such only because men have given importance to them. See Matthew 12:31-37; Mark 14:56; Luke 5:21; Matthew 9:3.

Lt38-1896.26; 1896

The proud state of the heart resists the will of God and is the driving force behind apostasy; the humble heart is obedient to the will of God and is the driving force behind true reformation. The following quotations express future, concrete prophecies where the fanciful ideas of God will be brought in and many things of like character will in the future arise¹. These ideas are of like character to the ideas contained in the Living Temple. They will do away with the personality of God. Ellen White gives warning after warning to adhere to the Fundamental Principles, and to be aware of the leaders who will tear down the old foundation.

Ellen G. White:

In view of these Scriptures, who will dare to interpret God and place in the minds of others the sentiments regarding Him that are contained in Living Temple? These theories are the theories of the great deceiver, and in the lives of those who receive them there will be sad chapters. This is Satan’s device to unsettle the foundation of our faith, to shake our confidence in the Lord’s guidance and in the experience that He has given us. Many things of like character will in the future arise. I entreat our medical missionary workers to be afraid to trust the suppositions and devising of any human being who entertains the thought that the path over which the people of God have been led for the last fifty years is a wrong path. Beware of those who, not having had any decided experience in the leading of the Lord’s Spirit, would suppose that this leading is all a fallacy; that we have not the truth; that we are not the people of the Lord, gathered by Him from all countries and nations. Beware of those who would tear down the foundation, upon which we have been building for the last fifty years, to establish a new doctrine. I know that these new theories are from the enemy.

Ms137-1903.10; 1903

Ellen G. White:

Let those who would bring in fanciful ideas of God awake to a sense of their danger. This is too solemn a subject to be trifled with.

Ms137-1903.11; 1903

Ellen G. White:

The root of idolatry is an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. It is because men have not faith in the presence and power of God that they have been putting their trust in their own wisdom. They have been devising and planning to exalt themselves and find salvation in their own works. A deceptive influence from satanic agencies is coming in, because leaders whom the Lord has warned and entreated and counseled are choosing their own wisdom in the place of the wisdom of God. To such ones the warning comes, ‘Talk no more exceedingly proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.’

Ms137-1903.12; 1903

The difference between the old Fundamental Principles and the new Fundamental Beliefs is in our ideas of God. The Trinitarian idea of God was not part of the foundation of our faith, which Sister White defended. How did this change take place? It was done through the leaders who chose their own wisdom in the place of the wisdom of God. We should Beware of those who would tear down the foundation, upon which we have been building for the last fifty years, to establish a new doctrine. In this observation, we recognize that this new Trinitarian idea of God was a deceptive influence from satanic agency that came into our ranks.