This is not a joke. This is what is being said, and it must be faced squarely.

After the death of the pioneers, once they were laid in the grave and could no longer defend themselves, there came men and women who now claim to be more enlightened than the holy spirit himself.

For that is exactly what their reasoning implies. If the writings of the pioneers from 1880 to 1900 are « outdated » and the creed of 381 is « fresher, » then the Spirit who enlightened those men must have lacked the light to enlighten them fully.

And Ellen White, who was taken in vision, who beheld heavenly things, who received dreams and visitations, would they have us believe that when Jesus spoke to her, He lacked inspiration?

This is where such talk leads, without anyone daring to say it out loud, they are accusing the Spirit of God of having done poorer work in 1890 than a council of quarreling bishops in 381.

From their own mouths

For the argument comes from their own mouths, the old Trinity of AD 381, all torn, stained and crooked, produced under the pressure of an emperor by men who anathematized one another, is supposedly more enlightened than what is chronologically far more modern, far more reformed, far more enlightened, and inspired by the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God.

Set the two dates side by side, a decree 1,645 years old on one side, writings 130 years old on the other, and it is the decree of the empire that they call fresh. The calendar turned upside down.

What « fresh » really means in their mouths

So let us translate. When this generation says fresh, they do not mean recent, they mean consensual. Fresh is whatever the whole Christian neighborhood confesses, outdated is whatever isolates you. The criterion is no longer chronology, nor inspiration, nor even Scripture, it is social comfort.

They prefer the dusty parchment of the empire because every denomination applauds it, over the studies of their own founders because those cost something to carry.

The faith of the pioneers required standing alone against all, the creed of 381 offers general approval in exchange for silence.

The promise of Daniel, or how God is made a liar

And here is what this reasoning tramples without realizing it. It was said to the prophet, but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased, Daniel 12:4.

There is the divine principle, explicit and dated, light is promised to increase toward the end of time, not to decrease back toward the councils.

And Revelation shows us who unseals, no one was found worthy to open the book, except the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb that was slain, Revelation 5. God Himself set the calendar of light, it grows as it moves forward.

At what point would something very old, receding into the past, be more inspired than what was received after the opening of the seals, according to the divine will?

Whoever claims that AD 381 was more inspired than what was received at the time of the end reverses the promise of Daniel, in other words, he makes God a liar.

The first angel’s message, the question of who God is

And what exactly is the message given for the time of the end about? Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth, Revelation 14:7. The first of the three angels’ messages calls the world back to the identity of the One we worship, to the personality of God, to who God is.

This is no peripheral detail, it is the very axis of the final message. And this is precisely where the pioneers converged, men who came from different denominations, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Christian Connexion, all raised in the Trinity from childhood, testing all things against the Scriptures.

Under the inspiration of God, they all deliberately turned away from it, understanding that the personality of God was something other than the Trinity, and recovering what Paul had written from the beginning, there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, 1 Corinthians 8:6.

Not three persons, not three gods. Men from Trinitarian churches who all abandoned the Trinity through study, that is not an inherited bias, that is the conclusion of study.

Those who can no longer answer

Notice the timing. It was not during the lifetime of James White, Uriah Smith, J.N. Andrews or J.H. Waggoner that their teaching was overturned, it was after their death. They waited for those voices to fall silent before declaring that they had lacked light, and before reintroducing precisely what those men had examined and rejected.

The dead cannot defend themselves, which is why history must do it in their place, and the dates bear witness.

Who among them equals Ellen White?

And here is the problem no one dares to name. This new generation returning to the old Trinity, whom does it count in its ranks? Who among them has been taken in vision of heavenly things? Who has received dreams, prophecies, gifts as great as hers? Who carries a testimony of life and ministry comparable to hers? No one.

And yet these same people place themselves above her in the understanding of the Scriptures, they call outdated what was given under inspiration, and declare more enlightened a decree voted by quarreling bishops under an emperor.

People without visions claim to be more enlightened than the one who received them. Is that not a serious problem? When you have received neither the gift nor the testimony, humility demands that you at least examine before you overturn.

The choice that remains

Only two positions remain possible. Either Daniel 12:4 is true, knowledge increases at the time of the end, and then the light received by the pioneers and the Lord’s messenger surpasses the imperial creed of 381.

Or the creed of 381 is the unsurpassable summit, and then God’s promise has failed, knowledge has not increased, it has gone backward.

You must choose, and for my part I refuse to make God a liar. So I ask this young generation, with affection and without contempt. Have you read for yourself what your pioneers wrote, or have you only been taught to be ashamed of them? Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

No, the Trinity of AD 381 is not more enlightened than what the Spirit of God gave long after it. It is only more comfortable. And to say otherwise is not to judge the men of 1890, it is to judge the Spirit who enlightened them.

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