987 -- Last descendant, Ludwig V. (the lazy), of Charlemagne dies. The nobles reassert their right to elect a king.

987 -- Hugh Capet, count of Paris, chosen king. His was the originator of the Capetian Dynasty. He was not a strong king. Dukes like those of Normandy, Flanders, Anjou and Champagne were more powerful. But he occupied a central place in France and had the blessing of the church. He was able to pass on the crown to his son without baronial opposition.

996 -- Robert II, the pious, king. Reigned till 1031.

1031 -- Henry I. king.

1060 -- Philip I. king. Had numerous clashes with the church.

1066 -- William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, conquers Anglo-Saxon England. Under the descendants of the Viking chief Rollo, Normandy became the most powerful state of France.

1108 -- Louis VI (the fat). Of him it was said, that `he studied the peace and comfort of plowmen, laborers, and poor folk, a thing which had been long neglected.' He surrounded himself with dependable and loyal men. Before his death he was able to arrange a marriage between his son and Eleanor, heiress to the vast duchy of Aquitaine, southern France.

1137 -- Louis VII king. Events forced him to annul the marriage (he had no heir) and relinquish his large territory.

1147 -- Louis VII and wife went on the 2nd crusade, during which she was said to have had an affair. Later she had an affair with Henry of Anjou, the later king Henry II. of England. Now Louis VII dissolved the marriage. Eleanor immediately married Henry and he received the territory of Aquitaine.

1154 -- Henry II, great-grandson of William the Conqueror, becomes king of England. The ensuing conflict between France and England over the English possessions in France would last up to 300 years and even beyond - to ca. 1453 or further. Henry's two sons were Richard the Lion hearted and John.

1180 -- Philip II king of France. He was able to win the fiefs of Normandy and Anjou for himself. Philip plotted always against England by setting the sons of Henry II against their father and after his death, they were against each other.

... 3rd crusade by Richard the Lion hearted. After his return he was held for ransom in Germany. Philip and John conspired to pay highest price so Richard would be kept in captivity in Germany. Once freed, Richard fought Philip but died of a minor wound infection during a siege.

John became king of England, and Philip became his avowed enemy.

1204 -- The French king stripped English of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine and Touraine. Only Aquitaine remained in English hands and would later become the cause for the `Hundred Years' War.' John made a last attempt by making an alliance with the Guelph emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Otto v. Brunswick. In response, Philip allied with the rival Hohenstaufen (Ghibelline) party in Germany and secured papal sanction, for both Otto and John were at this time at odds with Innocent III.

1214 -- The climax came at the Battle of Bouvines in Flanders where Philip won a resounding victory. The defeat of Germany led to a civil war there.

... yrs. -- Philip II (Augustus) exploited the clergy and the townships. The administrative `provosts' became hereditary officials and who farmed royal holdings for pay. Philip created a new office, the `bailiff,' who looked after several provosts and whom he paid wages. Feudal customs forbade any taxation. He exerted pressure on Jewish and Italian bankers to pay him larger loans. In lieu of military service from his vassals he demanded payment. This way he obtained a more secure uniform system of royal revenues.

... yrs. -- The beginning of royal efforts to subdue the County of Toulouse, part of Languedoc, came during the reign of Louis VIII. That county became the center of the Albigensian Christians. Their faith was spread from the Near East, through the Byzantine Empire, moving westward through the Balkans and northern Italy, to finally penetrating southern France in the 11th century. They were so strong in Langeduoc that the papacy feared that Catholicism would disappear from southern France. Thus the papacy induced the state, Philip II, to do its bloody work and act out its characteristic as the `Mother of Harlots and the Abomination of the Earth.' Rome and its henchmen became drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

The `Council of Toulouse' met about the time of the crusade against them. This Council ruled, "We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament. . . . We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular." "The dwellings, the humblest hovels, and even the underground retreats of the men convicted of having the Scriptures shall be entirely wiped out. These men shall be hunted for in the woods and caverns and any who shall give them shelter shall be severly punished." [Council, Toulouse, Pope Gregorius IX, Anno cr. 1229. Decrees 14, 2.]
"This pest [the Bible] had taken such an extension that some people had appointed priests of their own, and even some evangelists who distorted and destroyed the truth of the gospel and made new gospels for their own purpose . . . [they knew that] the preaching and explanation of the Bible is absolutely forbidden to the lay members." [Acts of the Inquisition. Philip van Limborch, History of the Inquisition, ch. 8.]
The `Council of Tarragona' ruled in 1234: "No one is to read or distribute the book of the Old or New Testaments in Roman languages . . . lest . . . be accused of heresy."
At the `Council of Constance' in 1415, Wycliffe was posthumously condemned on recommendation sent by Archbishop Arundel of Canterbury, as "that pestilent wretch of damnable heresy who invented a new translation of the Scriptures in his mother tongue." All the world still thanks these reformers and translators of the Bible today for what they did.

King John (1199-1216) learned of what had taken place, was furious, sent his representatives to Rome to plead their cause. Innocent III. was Pope then, (1179-1180, 1216), John clashed with him, 1206 over a disputed election to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Under papal, unbiblical, interdict John lost (See images here). None of the Catholic Sacraments are vital to salvation, faith in Jesus Christ is.

Innocent annulled both elections and appointed his own nominee, Cardinal Langton to be archbishop.

1207 ca. -- long term civil war in Germany.

1209 -- Pope wants Guelph candidate Otto v. Brunswick (if he paid heavy price). Unfortunately Otto gave up all lands claimed by papacy, gave up his rights from Concordat of Worms - had now no control over selection of bishops. Was crowned as Otto VI, fell heir to Frederick I. imperial ambitions. Wanted his territories back from pope. Pope sets up new candidate, the Hohenstauffen Frederick II. Otto VI is on the defensive, made alliance with King John of England who was at war with Philip II of France. Philip II supports Frederick II. One of the greatest Battles of the Middle Ages results at Bouvines, in the low lands. The French and Ghibelline German troops crush Otto II. invading army.

1214 -- England signs the Magna Carta.

1216 -- Innocent III died. Frederick II turns against papacy, did not renounce Sicily.

1216 -- Honorus III pope.

1223 -- Philip (Augustus), fearing the alienation of southern France, sent his son to make sure the region would be turned over to the crown. The persecutions continued for another 20 years, before all these gentle people were annihilated. They represent part of those described in the Book of Revelation as souls crying from under the altar, Rev. 6:9.

1227 -- Gregory IX pope.

1228 -- Frederick II (under excommunication) leads 6th crusade, takes Jerusalem.

1230 -- Gregory IX and Frederick II sign peace treaty to bid time.

1231 -- Frederik II issues `Constitutions of Melfi' to centralize his power and gain Sicily.

1237 -- Frederick II defeats northern Italian papal communes.

1243 -- Innocent IV pope. Wants holy war against Frederick, Upsets Louis IX (1226-1270) of France.

1244 -- The last of the Albigensis were killed at the Castle of Montsegur, southern France. While they killed the men, the wish for liberty, freedom, and the right to read and study what one desires to study, never died. Freedom of opinion and choosing one's own destiny, was still alive and would again flourish. It was evident, that the majority church had become the instrument of Satan. Even today the spirit of persecution seeks to revive.

1250 -- Frederick II dies. In the long run he lost and ruined the German empire. His son Manfred claims Sicily.

1250 -- Conrad IV, Frederick's son, is king.

1254 - Conrad IV dies.

1265 ca. - Pope supports Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX.

1266 -- Battle of Benevento, near Naples, Charles defeats and kills Manfred.

1268 -- Conradin, grandson of Frederick II, attempts to take Sicily, defeated by Charles and beheaded in Naples. Papacy wins against Hohenstaufen family. Medieval German Empire ceased to be a power to reckon with.

1294 -- Boniface VIII pope.

1311 -- Council of Ravenna institutes sprinkling instead of baptism by immersion.

1324 -- John Wycliffe born, educated - attention was directed to the Scriptures.

1327 -- Edward III king.

1362 -- Urban V. pope.

1365 -- Wycliffe was appointed head of Canterbury Hall, a new college.

1370 -- Through rivalry later removed from that by new archbishop of Canterbury. From this point on, his conflict was no longer to be with the primate of England but with the very pontiff of Christendom. However, to properly understand the situation, we need to go back a century in time.

1377 -- Edward III died.

...... yrs -- Wycliffe translates Bible into English, it trumps the Magna Carta.

1377 -- Richard king of England.

1378 -- Gregory XI., pontiff of Rome died.

1384 -- Wycliffe died on December 31, 1384.

1395 -- England: Friends of the gospel petition for reforms.

1397??ca. -- Henry of Hertfort, Richard's cousin returns and with malecontents deposes Richard.

1399 -- Richard dies.

.... yrs -- Sadly Henry (IV) chooses to defend the church and under his rule the first martyrs die in England at Smithfield.

1413 -- Henry IV dies, son Henry V. king. He condemns Cobham in Sept to be executed. Cobham escapes and is burned in 1417.

1422 -- Henry V dies, Henry VI king till 1470.

1453 -- Constantinopel belongs now to Turkey since 1449.

1483 -- Luther is born.

1484 -- Tyndale is born.

1485 -- Henry (Tudor) VII king.

...yrs -- His young son Henry (#??) is educated by Erasmus. Henry VII, asks hand of Catherine of Argone, daughter of Ferdinand of Spain (1479-1516), for his oldest son Arthur. They are married in an ill fated marriage.

1502 -- Prince Arthur dies. Henry VII wanted now Catherine to marry his young son. The promate Warham said, according to the Bible (Lev. 20:21) she could not marry brother of her husband.

1503 -- Julius II pope. Grants special permission for marriage.

1509 -- Henry VII dies May 9th.; Young Henry VIII king at age 18. Seven weeks later he marries Catherine.

1513 -- English Parliament passes law that ecclesiastics convicted of murder or theft to be tried by a secular tribunal, except bishops, priests, and deacons. Cardinal Wolsey protested that it was a violation of God's laws for a church clerk to be tried. Henry, distinctly seeing that to put the clergy above the law was to put them over the throne, replied that it was by the will of God that the kings who reigned in England were kings. Furthermore, the kings of England in time past had recognized no superior, other than God. He therefore, affirmed the right of the crown above that of the church.

... yr -- Erasmus leaves England and writes his Greek New Testament.

The clergy were horrified. They pointed to some passages where the differences were most glaring and accused Erasmus of trying to place himself above Saint Jerome in seeking to correct the Latin Vulgate. "Look here! This book calls upon men to repent, instead of requiring them, as the Vulgate does, to do penance! (Matthew 4:17)" On none of his works had Erasmus worked so carefully. He had compared all of the best manuscripts. He had corrected many obscurities and errors found in the Vulgate and had even placed in his version a list of the errors he had found. Nothing else went as far to prepare the way for the Reformation as the Bible being restored in its purity.

1519 -- Tyndale leaves Oxford and Cambridge.

1525 -- First English language New Testament reaches England.

1538 -- Henry VIII signs order to place a copy of the English (Coverdale) Bible in every parish church.

Many well written books on `Church History' have been published. Just recently I read Hollifield's Book. The author used a very academic approach in presenting the material and a style of writing which employed many published sources but amazingly not a single Bible text. It appears this is the way academia wants to see such topics being treated. An, `above scriptural quibbling' approach, do not open yourself up for multiple divergent interpretations among various Christian groups approach. In itself that may be a good method. It is succinct, comprehensive and probably for most readers more understandable. However, in our treatment of this subject matter, we shall present a more spiritual approach to hopefully balance the equation and provide a view which those readers may welcome, who are what we shall consider members of a Christian church.

We also diverge in a more significant way from previous works on this subject in that we, right from the start, declare our allegiance to a firm believe in the authenticity, reliability and content of the biblical books making up the Bible. In that we believe in the short 6 day model of creation week and in a revised account of the ancient history of what we shall call, and not uniquely so, the Bible Lands. We believe this approach may cast a fresh, and often naturally evolving account on the whole subject matter.

The very first `church' had only one member besides its `pastor'. This was the church of Adam. According to the biblical account Adam had no childhood, no playmates of his age group and no fellow being who was just like him. Adam was unique. Allowing for the probability that the Book of Genesis means just what it says, we consider Adam, as the crowning act of creation week, to have been endowed with exceedingly full developed mental and physical powers, we may try to understand, but probably cannot fully comprehend today. God is said to have formed the body of Adam from the dust of the earth. We may want to understand that to mean that God used the elements of our physical world to make up the chemical compounds necessary for life. Just like dust is made up of atoms and molecules of various types, some of these same elemental particles are present in living cellular forms of life. As such we know that our bodies contain many carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules. We also find in living creatures elements like sodium, potassium, magnesium and so on, atomic particles which we can also find in rocks and as metals. In short, we are intrinsically part of the world that surrounds us - except for one thing - we differ from inert objects in that we are alive. In this sense we do not ascribe to the idea that `nature is all there is' for we believe in revelation and endeavor to present a spiritually and logically arranged world view which can satisfy at least one purpose of this writing, to understand ourselves better.

So there Adam was, a lifeless `corpse' created by the creative skill of the Almighty. This human shape sprang to live as soon as God blew breath, air, oxygen into the lungs of Adam and his eyes opened up and he was a living soul, a living human being. This union of

body + breath = a living soul

has also the following mathematical aspect, in that 1 + 1 = 2. A body + breath = a nephesh soul. Not more, not less. Without the body breath is just that, breath. Without breath, a body is just that, a body. Both in unison are needed to make a living soul, or being.

Who can argue with mathematics? The Genesis account on this creative act certainly uses a simple formula. This formula has only 3 components: body, breath and soul; not four components: body, breath, human being, and a soul. The `nephesh soul' was the living being in its totality and without a remnant or extra part not accounted for explicitly. Originally the Bible speaks of life as without an end through death. It speaks of a `tree of life' whose fruit, somehow, sustained existing life with no loss in functionality.

The Biblical God is presented to us as the creator of everything. God is not to be compared with a human being, God is a spirit, a being of another dimension we can only vaguely imagine, but he is a personal being according to the Bible. As such we accept the view that in this vast cosmos, we should not think that the three or four dimensions we live with are all there is. We ought not to insist that nature is all there is for that would be a diminishing view of our vast surroundings. Instead, we remember that we occupy a rather humble position and allow for more to exist than meets the eye. Realizing that may help us recognize how our system of education categorically chose in modern times not to speak of the scriptural account of our being and left vast numbers of people largely uneducated about our earth's and humanity's place and size in the cosmos of all things as biblically presented. These attitudes arose because of a convergence of a number of things which led to critical Bible study, Darwinian thought and the inability of ancient biblical history studies to account for the biblical scenarios.

All three of these influences have since been shown to be grounded on questionable evidence.

We understand this human race to be a special act of creation by an Almighty God. Beholding his works in faith we can see, sense or imagine with the faculties which we possess, his creativity displayed in his creation and by his divine revelation. As such we cannot restrict ourselves to a world view which narrows us down to a mere son or daughter of our parents, but looking back, we consider us sons and daughters to original parents, specially created by God. Furthermore, we understand this family lineage to be attested in the very first book. The Book of Genesis was not written by one person but is a compendium of texts, written on clay or similar material tablets, which were kept as family records by the biblical patriarchs. These tablets were passed on through the succeeding generations until Moses brought them together, compiled them, and named the resulting volume the Book of Genesis. This process has been described under the topic of the `toledoth' of Genesis. This Book of Genesis, therefore, is the oldest book in the world which contains almost uninterrupted eyewitness accounts of events, anciently considered to be of sufficient significance to be recorded.

The Bible, and in some ways also secular history, teaches that the original knowledge of where life and mankind came from, has purposely been hidden from succeeding generations. The Bible has much to say about the influence of sin and how it brought earlier, divinely ordained guidelines into disrepute thus deepening the chasm between the divine and the fallen earthly realm.

The earliest blueprint for Adam and Eve was designed to reflect how other, non-human, but God created spiritual, angelic beings interacted with God. The God who made all these worlds and beings was one to be worshipped in admiration and joyous glorification. Among all other beings, humans too were to be part of these universal scenes of worshipping God, his love, sustaining and constantly creating powers. Admiration and `worship' people engage in today bestows frequently upon other human beings attributes and honors which should only be rendered to God.

Originally God made for Adam a garden. He did not live in a wilderness but in an orderly environment, a paradise as it were, a `Divine National Park', pleasing and wholesome to human existence. In it man was surrounded by the perfect creation of God which included all forms of life, rocks, the sun, moon and the stars above. This Eden `Park' was traversed by a river flowing out of it. This river parted then in four branches.

The first of these rivers was named Pison, which flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
the second was named Gihon, which flowed around the whole land of Ethiopia,
the third was named Hiddekel, which flowed toward Assyria,
the fourth was named Euphrates.

We suggest the following account may be helpful in recognizing the effects of a world wide flood:

"As we look at the general features of the landmasses all over the world, we observe systems of valleys draining in all directions from the summits to the present sea level. These valley systems were clearly formed by water, but, contrary to the ideas of Hutton, Playfair and Lyell, they were not formed by the existing rivers over immense periods of time. The greatest evidence of this is the many dry valleys (no longer containing any river) in the valley systems, which connect into the drainage system at just the right level. These suggest that the carving, scooping waters which produced the valley systems are no longer seen on the continents.

As the valley systems end at the level of the present seas, so in a similar way the dry and wet valleys on the sides of lakes end at the present level of the lakes.

These two points show that the whole network of valleys was formed contemporaneously, regardless of the length of the valleys.

Since the valleys were not carved by the present streams but the latter merely flow down previously prepared valleys, a study of the additional erosion by the rivers leads us irresistibly to a commencement of their flow in a certain place (in time)." [The Observations of George Fairholme, AiG]

The scriptural account suggests that Eden was located in a very picturesque setting of the creation of God. At first man was perfect. We can assume Adam was of a magnificent stature and could swiftly travel throughout his whole realm and see all the sights. But every so often he returned to the tree of life to partake of its fruits. For how long Adam could enjoy this blissful state of affairs is not revealed to us. Many commentators seem to think of it as of short duration. We suggest it was sufficiently long enough for Adam to have seen at least a good portion of his world. After having searched far and near for a mate, Adam realized his loneliness and God made Eve.

Like all of God's created beings, man also has free choice. Unlike other created beings, man had the gift of pro-creation. For all we know, this separates man from angelic beings.

Sin entered
by Ralph Larson

Airplane pilots are constantly checking their instruments to determine their exact location, and boat captains and truck drivers often consult maps to pinpoint where they are and where they are going. We, as Seventh-day Adventists, are also traveling down a road with an exact destination in mind, and, in this article, we will look at where we are on this journey to the everlasting kingdom. We will start at the very beginning of the great controversy with Revelation 12:7. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was there place found any more in heaven."

Why were the devil and his angels cast out of heaven? We all know that the controversy began with the devil trying to overthrow his Creator and take His place. His presumptive boast was, "I will be like the Most High." Isaiah 14:14. I would like for you to focus your attention on how the devil tried to do this and the lever that he used in his attempt to pry God off His throne.

"When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of." {Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 109.}

They operated on the law of love; love for their Creator and love for their fellow beings and, for them, that was sufficient. It was not necessary to explain to an unfallen angel that if you loved someone you would not lie to him. That was self-evident to him. It was not necessary to explain to an unfallen angel that if you loved someone you would not steal from him. He could figure that out by himself. The law of love was all the angels needed and it was all they had.

However, when God saw the rebellious thoughts in Lucifer's heart, He spelled out His law in a heavenly council.

"The Son of God presented before him [Lucifer] the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law." {Patriarchs and Prophets, 36.}

Christ, the Son of God, heard that lie and determined that He would prove it to be false. He made plans to come to this world to live the law in humanity, that Satan's charges, that man cannot keep the law, might be demonstrated to be false.

Revealing the Devil's Lie

There were two aspects to Satan's accusation that had to be met. If Christ came to this earth with any advantage over us He could not truly be our example. Also, if Christ had access to any power to help Him resist temptation that we do not have access to, then His demonstration would be phony and would prove nothing.

Christ accepted these two challenges, and promised to come to this earth in the human nature of man, with no advantage because of His birth or any power that is not available to you and me. He would resist temptation in the same manner in which every tempted soul may resist the evil one. Through His humiliation and poverty, Christ would identify Himself with the weakness of the fallen race. The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam. The king of glory proposed to humble Himself to fallen humanity, and so the plan of redemption was devised.

When Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, Satan said, "See, that proves that God gave a law that no one can obey." When the conditions reached such a terrible state before the flood, again he said, "See, that proves that God has given a law that man could not obey." When the Jewish church wandered so far away from God during the time before Christ came, again the devil said, "You see now, how can there be any doubt that God's law cannot be kept."

Then Jesus came. He did not argue. He just quietly, from infancy through childhood and adolescence and all the way to the cross, lived a sinless life with no advantage of any kind over us. At the end of His life He could say, "Who convinceth Me of sin?" "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me." John 8:46; 14:30. The victory was full and complete and it once and for all disproved the devil's greatest lie.

Are you beginning to understand the meaning of Ellen White's first vision? In this vision she seemed to be above the world and she was looking for the Adventist people. She could not find them looking down at the earth. The angel said, "Look again, and look a little higher." God's last day people have been called to follow our Lord in that magnificent demonstration that He gave to us, to prove to the universe that God's law can be kept perfectly by the fallen sons of Adam.

The Birth of Two Heresies

Continuing down through history we come to the reformation. In the reformation days the state church, the Catholic Church, stood on

A) the principle that man could not obey the law of God. Maybe a few saints could, but the rest could not. They had to invent
B) the doctrine of purgatory in order to take care of the problem of man's inability to stop sinning while on this earth.

The reformation went very well in the beginning, but quickly ran into trouble. Since that time there have been two theological opinions coming to us from the reformation. One is what we call

A) Armenian- Wesleyan- Methodist- Seventh-day Adventist theology. The other is called
B) Calvinism, which embraces the Reformed, the Presbyterians and the majority of those churches who, today, call themselves Evangelicals.[500]

Within each of these two schools of thought the devil developed a theory to destroy their testimony to the world.

In the Armenian ideology, he developed the doctrine that,

the law of God has been nailed to the cross so that it no longer needs to be kept explicitly.

the law of God was not nailed to the cross, it is still binding, but it cannot be obeyed. And, that since God knows we cannot obey His law, He does not want us to waste our strength in vain endeavors to do that which is impossible, so we must just trust in Him to forgive us.

I must point out that neither of these errors were in the original Armenianism or the original Calvinism. John Wesley preached a rip-roaring sermon once in which he said that anyone who declares that the law of God is nailed to the cross is one of the worst enemies the gospel ever had. He would never have said that the law of God was abolished, and neither would John Calvin have ever said that the law of God could not be obeyed. And so it was a corruption in Armenian Methodism and a corruption in Calvinism that brought us to the point where Adventism was in 1888.

Calvinism and 1888

In 1888 there were three major issues that were contended: an organizational problem of kingly power reaching out over the world, a spiritual problem which was rebellion against the Spirit of Prophecy, and a theological problem, an invasion of Calvinism.

In this article we will focus on this third major issue, the invasion of Calvinism. Many have thought that the theological issues at the 1888 General Conference centered on a controversy over the law in Galatians. But the hassle over the law in Galatians was only a symptom, not the problem. Ellen White said that there was no sense in making such a debate over that. It is not that important. But the larger problem, an angel told her in vision, had been going on for years. She wrote this warning:

"Many who preach the truth to others are themselves cherishing iniquity." {5T, p. 76}

"What can I say to arouse our people? I tell you not a few ministers who stand before the people to explain the Scriptures are defiled. Their hearts are corrupt, their hands unclean." {Ibid., 78.}

On the first Sabbath of the 1888 General Conference, Ellen White spoke these words to the assembled ministers and delegates.

"Now, what we want to present is how you may advance in the divine life. We hear many excuses:

I cannot live up to this or that. What do you mean by this or that?

Do you mean that it was an imperfect sacrifice that was made for the fallen race on Calvary,(?)

a) that there is not sufficient grace and power granted us that we may work away from our own natural defects and tendencies,(?)
b) that it was not a whole Saviour that was given us?
c) or do you mean to cast reproach on God?" {1888 Materials, 122}

The idea that God has given a law that His creatures cannot obey, is the devil's greatest lie, and it was invading the Adventist Church in 1888. At that time, Ellen White took a firm and powerful stand against it. Over the years she continued to emphasize that theme. In 1892 she wrote on the subject, pointing out the very same kind of reasoning. And so, Calvinism was refuted and did not give the church very much more trouble for about a half a century. In the 1950s, Calvinism invaded the church again, this time much more successfully by using a more subtle approach.

A Harmless Concession?

A certain scholar, named Walter Martin, visited with some leaders in Adventism. He wanted to write a book about Adventists, describing us as a cult. After some hesitation, the brethren set up conferences with him, and in an attempt to persuade him that we were not a cult, they gave him a statement to the effect that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had always believed just like the Calvinists believe: that our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth in the human nature of unfallen Adam.

To refute this claim, my wife and I compiled a book called The Word Was Made Flesh, which contains twelve hundred statements about the human nature of our Lord, from many different Adventist publications, four hundred of them by Ellen White. In these twelve hundred statements, written over a one hundred year period, there was not one that claimed that Christ came in the unfallen nature of Adam. In spite of that, our brethren gave Walter Martin a statement that the opposite was true: that we had always believed, except for a poorly informed minority, that our Lord came to this earth, like the Calvinists believe, in the human nature of the unfallen Adam.

Apparently no one realized that that was a Trojan horse-it seemed like a harmless doctrine. I find people to this very day who will look at me, and ask,

"Brother Larson, What difference does it make?"

It makes a lot of difference. If our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth in the human nature of the unfallen Adam, He knows nothing at all about the problems that I struggle with because of my heredity. He knows nothing at all about the weaknesses that have come to me through generation after generation down the stream of time. It would be utterly ridiculous to say that He was tempted in all things as I am tempted and it would be utterly unfair to say that I ought to live like He lived. How could I? How could I, four thousand, five thousand, six thousand years down the stream of time, live like He lived? The unfallen Adam! Why it would be utterly unfair.

Through this seemingly harmless doctrine, a way was opened for the wave of Calvinism to sweep into Adventism. Within an incredibly short time, as theological trends go, the Calvinistic doctrine, embracing Satan's greatest lie, began to creep into colleges, academies and churches all over North America, and to a lesser extent all over the world. The Calvinistic doctrine which says that man cannot stop sinning is now being heard in Seventh-day Adventist churches all across the country.

Today, Adventism is divided into two camps: those who are embracing Calvinism and those who recoil from it in horror. A great shaking is occurring, and many are wondering who can withstand the test? If everything we have trusted in fails, what will we do. Let me remind you of a story that I think will help us understand what our position should be in these days of seeming uncertainty. You find a great example here! Also do not forget to read carefully what Brutus by 1835, pre-Adventist, has to say!

[0500] A "gulden", more correctly "Gulden" is the name of a coin in olden days, the time of the reformation and onward.