NO, no this is not it at all! God, (Jesus Christ) has freely pardon all mankind! Jesus has paid the price for all mankind on the cross! He has done it for you already, the only thing you have to believe it and thank him for already doing it for you and there is nothing more that you can do to add on it, just believe it! For those who don't believe this, it is taking God's free gift to them and throwing it out the window! You don't have to come begging to God ask him to give you the free gift because he has already given it to you first before you even ask for it! Each person has the free gift already, what you do with the free gift of salvation that God has given you is your own business. To believe it and thank him for it or not to believe it at all and throw his gift away!

The best way to describe God's salvation to mankind is the Abraham Lincoln's civil war, "Emancipation Proclamation" that declared all the slaves in the Confederate territories to be legally free! But if know one, (the slaves) knew the experiential freedom until they heard the great news of being set free from their Master's hand, believing what was done for them and acted on it! Same way with the great news of God's salvation, it is in two parts, like the Emancipation Proclamation, you have to believe what was done for you already and you have to act on it by believing it! The slaves on the Confederate territories had a personal choice to believe what the U.S. Government had done for them and leave as a free man or not believe what the government has done for them and stay on the Master's land, the choice was solely theirs to make. Jesus died on the cross to legally set all mankind free from the penalty of sin, eternal death! Mankind salvation is done; all mankind is set free from sin! But now you have to make a personal choice to believe it and act on it like so many of the slaves did, or you can not believe it and still be a slave to sin and be lost (Not go to heaven). Question? Did the slaves in the Confederate territories have to do anything extra after hearing the good news of the Emancipation Proclamation to ensure or earn their freedom from the U.S. government? NO, No, no, like God, (Jesus Christ) we don't have to do anymore to ensure or earn our way into heaven! We just have to believe what has been done for us and thank him for doing it for us!

So what does this all mean? In short, all Christianity has the wrong ideal, or concept of what God’s character and his grace is all about. When Christ died on the cross, blotting out all sin for mankind – past, present, and future sins that any person may commit, that person is already forgiven and pardon from God by his son’s blood on the cross, even before that person ask for forgiveness from God! Remember it’s your unbelief that gets you lost from heaven, not you’re own personal sins that you haven’t confess to Him yet! Please understand, your personal sins do not keep you out of heaven!!!! Christ has died for those sins, you can openly say that you can sin all you want and God can not hold those sins against you, because of what Christ has done on the cross! But God forbid! Don’t you know that every time you openly sin is like a very hard slap on Jesus face! You are putting the nails back into his hands and feet every time you openly sin! You hurting God and Jesus every time you sin. Christians have preached that sinners are going to hell! We should be telling sinners that they are going to heaven, because what Christ has done for them, even while they are still in their sinful state and haven’t change yet! This is a very hard concept for most Christians to accept. Are you saying the Christ saves you in your sins? Like Paul says, God Forbid! God saves us from our sins!

The world has heard and seen the outside shell of the gospel, but has not fully experience the full force of the gospel itself. When that does happen, the world will know the power that is in gospel. If you hold a stick of dynamite in you fist without the blasting cap inside, you know that it won’t do anything! But put it inside and you won’t go near it because you know that it can do! The world has not seen the full power behind the gospel yet. They have only seen small black cat firecracker compared to a stick of dynamite, and what comparison is that!

Christains also have the wrong concept of God love towards mankind. We use the word, “Love” a lot in best describing the character of God. But the word, “Love” falls far short in how God feels towards us! The apostles used a word [Greek] Agape in describing his love and kindness toward us. We as a human race know the word love from a sinful motive! God’s love does not have a sinful, selfish, self-center motive behind it and makes it hard for a self-center, selfish person to understand it. We have a love, which the Greeks called Eros.

Eros loves things that are beautiful, sweet, attractive, and pleasant to the eye. Loves good things, happy times, and warm fussy! But hates ugly looking things, bad people, and non-attractive personalities. That is way we view love and human love can change to non-love. But God’s love is Agape love, it never changes, and it’s unconditional love! But we can’t say God’s love is like unconditional human love, because human love is CONDITIONAL! And we don’t understand unconditional from conditional love because we haven’t experienced that kind of love from anyone! And if we did, God’s love is a thousand time greater than the unconditional love that we get from a sinful human being!

God has a beautiful message and a answer to our dying world out there that is seeking answers to life questions, it’s a message of hope, mercy, full forgiveness, and 100% plus power over sin in our lives, that we can have NOW!

The last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love (Agape). That supreme revelation is at the cross. But what is the meaning of the cross? Here is the continental divide between past differences of conviction. If "the third angel's message in verity" is Christ and Him crucified, this focus must be clarified. The true gospel message of Christ righteousness joined two unique truths: (1) the final atonement in the most holly place of the heavenly sanctuary, and (2) a clearer understanding of Christ's sacrificed on the cross. There are lots of our own people and evangelical's who have expressed a radically different idea of what really happened on the cross than what we see in the true gospel message. They maintained that the sacrifice of Christ "merely deferred" for humanity the second death that is the wages of sin. In their words: "Under Heaven's plan to redeem man punishment or wages of sin -- eternal death -- was not waived, but was deferred. . . . [It] was not annulled, but was merely deferred. . . . delayed." Great consequences follow from this view of the atonement.

The if this is true, every human so is born into the world with that sentence of eternal death still hanging over his head. The fatal sentence has been "merely deferred," temporary delayed, logic demands that a debt has been "merely deferred" can not have been paid. According to this view, if the sinner does not take the initiative (the first step towards) in his salvation, the "deferred" punishment will fall on him as if Christ had not died for him, because his debt was never truly paid. The corollary of this view is that the sinner's faith and obedience is what initates the process of the atonement.

In contrast, the true gospel message sees Christ's sacrificed on the cross as accomplishing infinitely more than "merely deferring" the original punishment for sin. "The punishment or wages of sin -- eternal death" was neither "waived," "deferred," nor "delayed," but was inflicted totally on Christ. This is the only foundation on which grace can rest. Grace that does not rest on Christ complete sacrifice must be "cheap grace." He actually and truly paid the debt of every man's sin, and therefore fully died the second death of "every man." Thus there is no reason for any human soul to die that second death except for his own personal unbelief, his refusal to appreciate what Christ has actually (not provisionally) accomplished for him on the cross (John 3:17-19). This view of the cross may take one's breath away, but it's stark Bible truth, the "objective gospel."

The truth of the cross clearly defines the gospel: (1) "We see Jesus. . . . crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste the death for every man" (Heb. 2:9). This "death" could not be the first death which the Bible calls a "sleep." It had to be the second, the total "undeferred," "undelayed" punishment for our sin.

(2) "Our Savior Jesus Christ. . . .hath abolished death, and hath brought life and inmortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim.1:10). Again, this "death" cannot be the first which has obviously not been "abolished." The lake of fire was never intended for human beings, only for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). Another truth follows:

(3) "God. . . . gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish" (John 3:16). Thus His "sacrifice" was not only His incarnation in assuming human nature forever, but a giving-for that involved dying the second-death punishment for every man's sin. This is the foundation that makes grace possible, the death which the broken law requires.

(4) "Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). If this was the equivalent of the second death, then He made the commitment of all He had, to give Himself to death and hell forever, withholding nothing. This is the measure of His agape.

(5) Adam and Eve would have died the second death in Eden if Christ had not given Himself as "the Lamb slain from the foundation all the world" (Gen 2:7; Rev. 13:8). He did it before they could do anything good to deserve it. Adam in the garden was the entire human race, for we were all "in him" as surely as Levi was "in the lions" of Abraham when the latter paid tithe to Melchisedek (Heb. 7:9,10). Thus "in Adam" the entire human race corporately shares his condemnation, but "even so" "in Christ" they share that "verdict of acquittal" which the lamb achieved as He was "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rom. 5:16,18, NEB; Rev. 13:8).

(6) Christ "was wonded for our transgression. . . . The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . . For the transgression of my people was he stricken" (Isa. 53:4-12). He was not "stricken" only for that of righteous, but for that "of us all."

(7) Therefore, the glorious conclusion follows: if the "iniquity of us all" was laid on Christ; if He died for our sins; if He "abolished death" by His sacrifice; if He "was wounded for our transgressions" and was "bruised for our iniquities," it follows that He paid the "unwaived," "undeferred," "undelayed" penalty of every man's sin! This is the ABC of salvation.

(8) We prefer not to say that Christ died the second death; He died its equivalent. In other words, He corporately identified Himself with "every man" in that "anguish of the lost," the indescribable alienation from life or joy or light which Christ "tasted" for "every man." The guilt of every descendent of Adam was pressing upon his heart. Thus He was "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). This verb "made" is no conditional. This is shocking to many of our people, but it is true that Christ has actually accomplished something for every human being. He has identified Himself intimately with the deepest recess of every person's secret soul -- the ever-present yet buried fear of eternal death. He has lifted that condemnation, making present life and it's happiness possible. Thus He "lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).

(9) Christ's sacifice explains why there is no need for any human soul to die that second death--except for his unbelief. What will make the anguish of the lost so totally complete will be the full realization at last He did die for their sin, He did pay their debt! They will see their own second death as totally unnecessary except for their hard-hearted unbelief: "In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will understand the nature of his own rejection of truth. The cross will be presented, and its real bearing will be seen by every mind that has been blinded by transgression. Before the vision of Calvary with its mysterious Victim, sinners will stand condemned." (DA 58, CG 668)

The cross defines unbelief as far more than a passive neutrality, a sitting on a fence, or a human oversight which we define as "neglect." The lost will see that their unbelief was active dis-belief, a deliberate choice to cast contempt upon the sacrifical love of the Son of God. It seems that if is easy to misunderstand the profound nature of unbelief. Many of us seem to see it as merely passive donothingness.

Christ atonement is infinitely more that we have been ready to understand, Every human being is involved: "Jesus, the world's Redeemer, stands between Satan and every soul. . . . The sins of everyone who has lived upon the earth were laid upon Christ, testifying to the conflict with Satan." (RH, May 23, 1899) What Good News! And now the world hungers to hear it!

This is not to deny that the lost will indeed the second death. In despising, rejecting, dis-believing what Christ did, they "counted the blood of the covenant. . . . an unholy thing, and. . . .[did] despite unto the Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29). This is the true dimension of their unbelief or disbelief. They will suffer the "wages of sin" because by repeated choice they have taken back upon themselves the sin Christ died for, and retrieved the condemnation and punishment that He has already bore for them! God does not put them in double jeopardy. If people could only see this truth now, what a difference it would make with many! The true gospel message of the cross is "the third angel's message in verity." The "loud cry" message, "Be ye reconciled to God," will make this clear to the hungering world that is darkened by a false concept of God's character.

The fundamental error which produces confusion. Some who differ with us insist that unconditional love is not unconditional pardon, which is very true. But by their "not waived but deferred,. . . . delayed" doctrine, they logically take a further step -- they want a conditional sacrifice. If by His death Christ did not pay the full penalty for the sins of "all men," the logical conclusion has to be that He died only provisionally, conditionally, tentatively, and the sinner's punishment was only "deferred," the divine sacrifice itself being conditional on man's faith and obedience first. Our Sabbath School Quarterly has serveral times in recent years said the same thing in essence -- that the sacrifice of Christ is only provisional, is in vain, it does no one any good unless he takes the initiative to believe and obey. But we see the divine sacrifice as unconditional, not provisional, and "finished." Grace is given to all, totally unmerited. Christ truly, actually, died for "all men."

This fundamental "merely deferred" doctrine (doubtless sincerely held by thoese who teach it) naturally colors their understanding of justification by faith. The confusion stems from a subtle idea lurking in the shadows -- the popular "limited atonement." In other words, God's foresight saw the eventual damnation of the lost and thus He held in abeyance, "deferred,. . . . delayed" the punishment for their sin, to inflict it on them later.

In contrast, the gospel insists that the punishment which Christ bore was total for "every man." And "every man" has already enjoyed relief from the lifecrushing condemnation of the second death. How could those "saints or sinners eat their daily food" and even live, if a conscious "haunting fear of death [held] them in bondage thoughout the whole course of their lives"? (Heb. 2:15, Amplifed). Christ has lifted it! He has done something for "all men," and it is far more than "a second probation or conditional "grace." Paul says grace has given, not merely offered, a "gift" -- justification (Rom. 5:15).

The "merely deferred" doctrine would logically rewrite John 3:16 to make it read like this: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son for thoses (only) who believe." And of course, that would be very true, but it is only a small part of the awe-inspiring truth. He also gave Himself fully as much for thoese who do not believe. This divinely extravagant gift of justifying love was illustrated in Mary Magdalene's "wasteful" offering of her precious perfume on Jesus' feet -- which Judas and the disciples did not appreciate.

Are we still back where they were then? Is it right to reguard as a "myth" the teaching that God effected for the entire human race "a verdict of acquittal" "in Christ"? And do we in any sense merit justification by out conversion and our obedience? Must we personally develop "a new character" before justification at the cross can take place? We must now appeal to what Christ accomplished on His cross in order to understand justification, the heart of the third angel's message.

The "most precious message" the Lord sent to us (in the year 1888) was centered in Galations and Romans. It made sense of Revelation 14:12 -- that true keeping of the commandments is by faith of Jesus. It was like a shaft of sunlight in a dark cave. It clearly presented the great sacrifice made by the Father and the Son in man's behalf. What was that "sacrifice"?

If Christ died every man's "death" (the second), then it follows that He reversed the condemnation that came on "all men" in Adam. It is the broken law which demands our death; therefore the "condemnation" has to be legal. Likewise the reverse -- a "verdict of acquittal" -- has to be legal. (It is comman knowledge that the opposite of a "condemnation" of the accused has to be "a verdict of acquittal".) Paul explains it:

"The free gift is not like the offense. For if by one man's offense [the] many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to [the] many [that is, all men]. And the gift is not like the that which came through the one who sinned. For judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification." (Rom 5:15, 16, NKJV; the NEB says. "a verdict of acquittal").

Thus the Greek vivdly spells out the parallel: Adam's sin = condemnation for all men. Christ's "gift by grace" = justification for all men.

How? Because He truly died their second death, paid in full the penalty for their sin, nothing being "waived" or "deferred" or "delayed." With His blood, as our "second Adam," He redeemed, purchase, reclaimed, restored to favor, emancipated, delivered, release from death, liberated, the entire corporate human race (but individuals can reject Him!). The more closey the original lanuage is examined, the more clearly shines this truth:

"Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life." (vs. 18, NKJV).

Thus Paul explains what he ment in Romans chapter 3:

"All alike have sinned, and are deprived of the divine splender, and all are justified by God's free grace alone, throuth his act of liberation [redemption, KJV] in the person of Christ Jesus" (vss 23, 24, NEB).

Nothing is said in verse 24 about our personal experience of justification by faith. This "act of liberation" was accomplished on the cross soley by His grace, before we were even born, with no participation on our part, so we couldn't have done anything or even believed anything in order to merit it or to precede it. This was "the gift" that grace gave us. It is the objective gospel (the so-called "myth").

Confusion seems to come by attaching a restrictive non-biblical definition to the word "justification." When the apostle says that "all are justified" he does not say that "all were made righteous." In a commendable zeal to oppose the "new theology," those who differ with us maintain that "to justify" always means "to make righteous," that is, to effect an actual change of character. Thus they represent that when the True Gospel Message Study Committee maintain that the cross Christ made "all men" to be righteous and must logically therefore take "all men" to heaven, even against their will. Thus is not true.

The Bible definition of "justify" clarified the confusion: "If there be a controversy among men, . . . the judges. . . shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked" (Deut. 25:1). The meaning is clear: no Hebrew judge could make an accused person righteous. All he could do was to declare him so. But neither could he declare a guilty one righteous. The "new theology" definition of "justify" as only "declare" also come short of the Biblical reality. Rather, the judge must examine the evidence and then recognize when the accused must be declared righteous.

Thus the justification for "all men" accomplished by Christ's sacrifice does not "make" them righteous; neither does it unjustly "declare" the guiltily to be righteous. It recognizes that Christ has become their second Adam, their Substitute, incorporating in Himself the entire human race,dying their second death as them as well as instead of them. The Father accepts the Son, and through the atoning sacrifice of His Son accepts the sinner. When He redeemed us He lifted from us our legal verdict of condemnation "in Adam." He restored the whole race of men to favor with God," and became "the substitute and surety for the human race." Again, this does not mean that "all men" will be saved eternally. The Lord wants them to be saved, but they can choose not to be, and thus be lost.

Is Christ's "acquittal" only offered, as some say, or is it actually given?

The Greek of Romans 5 is clear:

"The judicial action. . . issued in a verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace. . .issued in a verdict of acquittal. . .It follows, then, that the issue of one misdeed was condemnation for all men, so the issue of one just act is acquittal and life for all men" (NEB; see also KJV, NKJV, and other translations).

Is this "acquittal" only for those who take the initiative to accept the gift? Is it only offered, as some say, or is it actually given?

Paul answers: it is "for all men" as surely as the "verdict of condemnation" applied to "all men," in full harmony with his statement that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespassed unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19). Note Waggoner's grasp of this truth:

(a) Christ is given to every man. . . . The life of Christ lights every man that comes into the world. . . . "Do you mean to teach universal salvation?" We mean to teach just what the word of God teaches -- that " the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men." Titus 2:11, RV. God has wrought out salvation for every man, and has given it to him; but the majority spurn it and throw it away. . . It is true that all men are redeemed, but not all have accepted redemption." Glad Tidings, pp. 11-14, 61

(b) "There is no exception here. As the condemnation came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted death (the second eternal death) for every man. He has given himself for all. Nay, he has given himself to all. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. . . There is not the slightest reason why every man that has ever lived should not be saved unto eternal life, except that they would not have it. So many spurn the gift offered so freely." Waggoner on Romans, p. 101

Waggoner sees the practical godliness import of this insight when he says:

"How often we hear someone say, "I am so sinful that I'm afraid the Lord will not accept me!" Even some who have long professed to be Christians often mournfully wish that they could be sure of their acceptance with God. But the Lord has given no reason for any such doubts. Our acceptance is forever settled. Christ has brought us and has paid the price." Glad Tidings, p. 12.

The "price" which He paid includes that "verdict of acquittal" which is a judicial justification for "all men." Then Romans 5:17 goes a step further: when the sinner believes and "receives" this justification achieved at the cross, then by faith he is made righteous and will "reign through Christ" eternally.

Many are stunned, asking how can this gospel of justification be "satanic deception," "blasphemy," "Satan's masterpiece of deception"? Those who label it such insist that Christ's sacrifice provides only "Grace" for "all men," but definitely not a legal justification or "verdict of acquittal." It is true that grace is extended to all. But that would be "cheap grace" unless the demand of the broken law has first been met by death in behalf of all those to whom the grace is extended. This grace has to be exceedingly expensive.

Paul clearly says that "grace" gives a "gift" : "The gift by grace is of many offenses unto justification." And "the gift by grace [justification]. . . hath abounded unto [the] many," that is, to "all men." The "all men" are identified as those that "be dead," those included in Adam's condemnation (Rom. 5:15, 16, KJV). This may be startling thought to some, but the Bible is clear, and so is the Spirit of Prophecy. Christ has "restored the whole human race of men to favor with God." God "was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19). To whom did He impute those trespasses? Unto Christ, thus setting the sinners free. But the logic of the opposing position sees it backwards, requiring that God legally impute the world's trespasses unto them -- the opposite of the legal justification which is condemned so strenuously. This turns the gospel of Christ upside down, and defies why the two views are poles apart.

The sanctuary teaching of the atonement illustrates the cross. In the Levitical service, the daily morning in the evening sacrifice prefigured this universal offering of Christ for "all men." While there were individual sacrifices for individual sinners who reprinted, the "daily" offerings of the two lambs were an unconditional sacrifice for the corporate whole of the nation, including the strangers and sojourners in the land. These lambs were offered whether or not all individuals believed and repented. John the Baptist's name for Christ was "the Lamb of God which taken away the sin of the world," and illusion to this daily unconditional ministry. This is what John means by "the propitiation. . . for the sins of the whole world." (John 2:2).

But the sacrifice of Christ for "the sins of the world" does not function as a license to sin Opposers fear that proclaiming this good news is dangerous and will lead to law-breaking. The brethren in 1888 also feared that the message of Jones and Waggoner would weaken the sabbath doctrine and lower the "standards." Spirit of Prophecy warns how their attitude will reappeared among us in these last days:

"In the manifestation of the power that lines the earth with its glory, they will see only something which in their blindness they think dangerous, something which will arouse their fears and they will brace themselves against it. Because the Lord does not work according to their expectations and ideas, they will oppose the work." Review & Hearld Extra, December 23, 1890.

This thread permeates Scripture. Christ declares that "my flesh, . . . I will give for the life of the world." Thus we "have known life" except what is purchased by His "flesh" and "blood" (John 6:33, 51, 53). In other words, even the wicked enjoy the blessings of this present life solely because of His sacrifice. "Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourishment by the body and the blood of Christ." (Desire of Ages, p.633) Paul tells the pagan Athenians that "in him we live, and move, and have are being" (Acts 17: 28). God "imputed" unto Him "the world's trespasses," making Him "to be sin for us," that is, for "all men" (2 Cor. 5:19, 21). This "life of the world" that Jesus speaks of is far greater than the life the animal creation enjoys. It is a "life" wherein there is relief from our death-dealing "condemnation" "in Adam." Animals do not sensed that. "All men" already have enjoyed that "life," thanks to Christ, although few may realized it, due either to their ignorance of the gospel or to their hard-hardened unbelief against it.

In this sense Scripture represents Christ as already "the Saviour of all men" (1 Tim. 4:10), for He "abolished" their second death, saved them from its condemnation, and delivered from its all-encompassing fear which otherwise would have crushed out all their present life (2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 2:14, 15). He is not only "the propitiation for our sins, . . . but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). But begin, Christ forces no souls to be internally states against there will, "whether they like it or not." They can choose to reject "the gift" already given them.

The choice to believe makes the legal justification at the cross become effective in the human heart. "All are justified by God's free grace alone, through his act of liberation in the person of Christ Jesus. For God designed him to be that means of expiating sin by his sacrificial death, effective through faith" (Rom. 3:24, 25, NEB). This explains how true justification by faith makes the believer obedience to all the commitments of God (including the Sabbath!). The the sinner experiences a corporate oneness identity with Christ.

Is this view the same as the so-called "liberal theology"? Only superficially can it appear so. It is the opposite of the "new theology" idea of a "strictly legal justification by faith" because it is rooted in the at Adventist view of the cleansing of the sanctuary. And makes possible genuine obedience to the law. "Error often appears to lie closed to the path of truth." But it is too late to again mistake truth for error. We don't have another century to sort out confusion.

To say that justification by faith is only a legal declaration with no relation to wholly, obedient living would indeed be heresy. While the justification accomplished at the crossed legally applies to the entire human race "in Christ," its gospel proclamation arouses in the receptive human heart a response, an appreciation of what it cost the Son of God to redeem us. This faith reconciles the alienated heart to Christ It was this that rejoiced Mrs. White when she contemplated Waggoner's message, years after Minneapolis. She sensed that this deeper insight would prepare a believing people for translation.

The "new theology" does not except these principal elements of the true gospel message! It sometimes now concedes that a twinkle justification for all men took place at the cross, but it does not recognize that justification by faith makes the believer fully obedience, more that this ultimate experience prepares for translation. It denies the Day of Atonement ministry of Christ in the most holy apartments in distinction to His ministry in the first apartment prior to 1844. It generally scenes a preparation for death as the same as preparation for translation, failing to see the corporate as well as individual nature of the final atonement. It considers justification by faith to be merely a "decoration" of individual acquittal apart from a true change of heart. It does not except the possibility of complete overcoming in preparation for the return of Jesus, affirming instead continued sinning until glorification at the return of Christ.

It also rejects the true gospel message view of the nearness of the Saviour, insisting that Christ could not have taken are fallen, sinful nature without Himself becoming a sinner. The "new theology" has been logically (though probably not consistently) sympathetic to the Roman Catholic doctrine which teaches that so long as humans retained fallen, sinful flesh, total victory over sin is impossible (the basis for the doctrine of purgatory);and it follows, if Christ had taken are fallen, sinful nature with a self to deny as we must deny self, He could not have been sinless in character. These basic principles are as different as night and day. Yet some contenders have collected superficially similar-by- appearance quotations in an effort to establish the charge of "guilty by association." The supposed similarity has now been analyzed by Leroy Moore in a recent book. He cleans with both categories of readers to think carefully, to distinguish the fine line between truth and error:

"The true gospel message principal (1888) [is] that justification must perceive true obedience. We truly obeying only when we are justified (reconciled) and are in Him [Christ]. But strictly legal justification by faith [as taught by 'new theology'] is as contrary to the Bible and the writings of the spirit of prophecy as is holly flesh. . . .Robert Wieland answers Desmond Ford's legal, effective justification at the cross by a 'universal, legal justification at the cross that is effective only as claimed by faith' (Gold Tried in the Fire, p. 21, [23]). Knowing it would be confused with Ford's view, several years ago I wrestled with Robert Wieland over the term he used. Far from being from forensic-only doctrine, the concept he attributes to Waggoner does correct Ford's error, while it retains truth that the Plymouth Brethren abandoned in their doctrine of justification at the cross--which claims a complete in final atonement in A.D. 31. In distinguishing legal justification at the cross from justification by faith, Wieland retains an ongoing priestly atonement based upon the complete sacrificial atonement.

"His 'universal, legal justification' refers to the Lawgiver's declaration at the cross that He paid in full the debt for all stand of every person for all time (Heb. 2:9). However this complete sacrificial atonement is mediated to believers only as they claim it by personal exercise of faith." (Adventism in Conflict, RH, 1995 pp. 131, 133, 134).

Waggoner's 1895-96 verse-by-verse studies in Romans affirmed a legal justification effected at the cross for "all men," and that the experience of justification by faith makes the believer obedience to all the commands of God. Waggoner's insight is the answer to the "Reformationist" contention, not a repetition of it. Even Dr. Arnold Wallenkampf of the Biblical Research Committee of the General Conference concluded (after reading our little pamphlet on this subject) that the idea is taught in Scripture and is supported in the Spirit of Prophcey, and immediately recognized it to be the effective answer to the Evangelical views, not a new version of them.

So where do we go from here? Some people say that Jones and Waggoner had no more new light than Wesley, Hess, or Luther about the understanding of righteousnes by faith. And some say that Jones and Waggoner did have a far outstanding grasp of understanding the righteousness by faith, than Wesley, Hess, or Luther ever dreamed about, or ever knew! But one question does arise in the Adventist church, if there was no new light on this very important subject, why did the Spirit of Prophecy fully back these two men and wrote extensively about shedding new light and again new light on a old subject. Yes, righteousness by faith is an old subject that has been around for over seven centuries. Wesley, Hess, and Luther are the pioneers of this subject. But they only had seen a small glimps, a limited understanding about this subject.

Martin Luther received some more light and understanding on the subject, but not 100% percent knowledge in full understanding. Luther had about a good 50% percent knowledge and if the reformers had still studied into this subject after Luther's death, God would revealed the other 50% percent to them as years went by. But the reformers took the attitude that Luther had all 100% percent, full understanding about the subject and no more could be added to it. It was all there for them to preach onto the world, and they never give it a second thought of studying further into the subject because Luther received all the light from God, so why study it further?

Which brings us back to the question, if Luther had received all the light, 100% percent understanding and knowledge about this subject. And nothing more could be added to it, then why did the Spirit of Prophecy tell us that God, (Jesus) has given these two men new light on this subject? Why would God be wasting his time giving new light on a subject that he had already given it all to Luther in the 16th century? If there was no new light to be given, why wouldn't the Spirit of Prophecy say so in the first place? To say that Jones and Waggoner had no new light to give and that they were just reinstating what Luther had to say on the subject is calling the Spirit of Prophecy a liar. Yes, you are calling Ellen White the biggest liar in disserting which had more light and understanding about the subject from God. If Ellen White had visions from God about brothers Jones and Waggoner receiving more light in this old subject, more than what Luther understood and comprehend, then why say that they (Jones and Waggoner) had no new light to give on this subject. Another point is this, if it was true, that Jones and Waggoner really had no new light on the subject and when the Spirit of Prophecy said that they did, that makes everything of what she said up to the 1888 conference and beyond a total lie, and that she is a total fake!

If you're going to believe everything said by the Spirit of Prophecy in her many books are true and that she was led by God, (Jesus) why wouldn't you believe when she said that this message, more light from Jones and Waggoner on righteousness by faith is the latter rain, the third Angels message, the Loud Cry, and that this message is to be given to a dying world before Christ Second Coming! Luther had the first 50% percent of this wonderful message and God gave the last 50% percent to Jones and Waggoner for a group of people that God was hoping to be receptive to this message. The people were, but our leaders were dead set against it.

A.G. Daniells in his book, "Christ our righteousness" which came out in 1926 said that they (the Adventist) had lost the message given to them in 1888, and that it was never completely covered. "Nearly forty years ago (in 1888) there came to the Seventh-day Adventist church a very definite awakening message. It was designated at the time as 'The Message of Righteousness by Faith.'. . .To this day, many of those who heard the message when it came are deeply interested in it and concerned regarding it. All these long years they have held a firm conviction, and cherished a fond hope, that someday this message would be given great prominence among us. . . p. 23 Christ our Righteounsess. He also said that it was the main leaders of the Adventist church that had pushed away the message never to be heard or fully taken to the people. In a large sense, the leaders were shutting up the light from our own people to hear and understand. And sadly enough today our own leaders are sit doing it. In the book 1888 Re-Examined by R.J. Wieland, a whole chapter is written to explain the problem of why the church has a problem of dealing with this message click here to read which brings us to the question, what is the point of this Web Site?

1. The Lord "in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people" in 1888 and a few years following. No one now denies that "in a great degree" and "in a great measure" that this message was "kept away" both from our own people and from the world itself. Ellen White says that prominent brethren a century ago stood up against the window where light was streaming through and block the way so that the light could not reach our people unopposed or undistorted. No one now denies that the 1901 General Conference Session failed to recover the message; in fact, the keynote speaker for the 1990 General Conference Session frankly declared it as much. The published records are clear: No General Conference Session sense has ever recovered it.

2. Fortunately, the message was not lost. Ellen White's 370 plus endorsements continued in the present tense for about a decade following 1888. Musty archival copies of books, pamphlets, Signs of the Times, Review and Herald, and Bible Echo articles written by the two messengers whom Ellen White recognized as the Lord's agents, A.T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, can now be seen. Those who study them are often impressed by the freshness, vitality, and clarity with which they articulated biblical practical godliness.

3. Ellen White never claimed about the Lord sent her with the beginning of the loud cry or the latter rain. She made that claim for them - Jones and Waggoner. She urged that we listen to their message. There is no conflict between what they said in what she said; but there is a complementary relationship. In recent years, it is refreshing that more and more church leaders and pastors and scholars are beginning to re-study the Bible to understand just what is the message of justification by faith as the Bible teaches it. The Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church have come to a virtual agreement in understanding justification by faith; we as a denomination have long claimed that our understanding of justification by faith is identical with that of the Lutherans; now theirs, was some fine-tuning, is identical with the Roman Catholic's; does that now mean that Ellen White declared is "the third angel's message in verity" is the same as the message of the Roman Catholic Church? If our message is the same as that of the Sunday-keeping Evangelicals, and theirs is the same as the Roman Catholic Church's, where does that leave us?

We are convicted that there is a distinct difference in the message of justification by faith that God has given to us Surely it is vitally important that we understand it. Are we to surrender the "most precious message" the Lord sent to us? Can we think of anything more important to understand?

Some may say, "Oh, it makes no difference as long as we keep on observing Saturday as the Sabbath." But wait a moment. You won't be able to hold to Sabbath-keeping when the mark of the beast is enforced unless you all rooted in grounded in the truth of justification by faith. Why? Because Ellen White said that the third angel's message in verity is justification by faith; and it's not true because she said it, but because the Bible makes it clear. Which leads us to an answer from a song by a contemporary Christian artist, Michael Card; which the lyrics goes: "Their words and their doctrine, they all sound so true, the problem is Lord, they're all wrong about you!"

So, what IS this message?

1. Coming to the fore as the most significant contribution of the 1888 message is: the motivation for serving Christ. Why do we keep the Sabbath, pay our tithe, worked as missionaries, etc.? Because we want to be saved. We don't want to be lost; we want to go to heaven. Very good idea, indeed; but if it never goes beyond that, it is the root of legalism. All self-centered motivation is "under the law," old covenant, and it will surely fail in the final crisis. Much of our public evangelism is based on this egocentric appealed, which is good for a childish understanding.

But the Bible speaks often of a process of growing up Ephesians 4 says we must "hence forth be no more children, . . . but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things." In fact, we are to come "unto a mature person, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (verses 14, 15, 13). The 1888 message points us to a new self-forgetful motivation: a concern for Jesus, that He received His reward, that He be crowned King of Kings (not that we "wear a crown in our Father's house," as the to ditty goes), that we honor Him, that this burden of sorrow He feels for a world reeling in woe may be lifted, that He see the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

2. This new motivation is created in our worldly, self-centered, sinful hearts by the introduction of something the Bible calls agape (Rom. 5:8). This also it is a fundamental motif of the 1888 message. It is a concept of love far different (very far different) than human beings normally understand, or what Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in general can understand. It is a concept of love consistent with the biblical idea of the non-immortality of the soul.

3. Those who believe in natural immortality find it impossible to grasp the length, and breath, and depth, and height of this the biblical idea of agape. Ellen White makes clear in her own simple language that this concept of agape is today misunderstood solely from the Most Holy Apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. Thus, its is a refreshingly different idea of the gospel band is possible for people to proclaim who do not understand the nature of man or the ministry of the High Priest in the second apartment since 1844 (Early Writings, pp. 55, 56). It involves the he proclamation of the Lamb of God in His cross in high-fidelity realism never clearly grasped by Seventh-day Adventist an by the world itself. Therefore the third important element of the 1888 message that deserves our careful study is the relationship between the final atonement work of Christ in cleansing the heavenly sanctuary, and the biblical truth of justification by faith.

4. The biblical view of justification by faith do is refreshingly different from the all-too-common view. The 1888 message sees justification by faith as experientail; that is, it is itself a change of heart. When a person is justified by faith, he is reconciled to God, and at the same time he is in fact reconciled to God's holy law. Joyfully Ellen White said that this message of justification by faith "is made manifest in obedience to all the commands of God" (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 92). This is what made Ellen White happy to hear it, why she said she had heard nothing like it presented publicly in the previous 45 years. Note: this is justification by faith--it does not in the least down play sanctification. Bear in mind that she declares this to be "the third angel's message in verity." This is a serious call for us to study, to learn, to comprehend. What we have often said is sanctification is in reality the experience of justification by faith.

5. There is a beautifully logical progression of truth in this 1888 message. It follows next that this experience of justification by faith must rest on some foundation stronger than the believer's feelings or works, or even toys to believe Ephesians 2 clearly says that we are saved "by grace, through faith." Where are was that grace manifested Titus 2:11-14 says when Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us. . .," it was at the cross that His grace was manifested and His blood was shed for the world. This is why Jones and Waggoner saw that in the purely legal or objective sense, the whole world was justified at the cross. Justification by faith cannot be a personal reality without appreciating what Christ accomplished by His sacrifice. Ellen White saw this truth as an element of the light that is yet to lighten the earth with glory.

6. Another vital element in the 1888 message is the reality of Christ coming close to us, as our Saviour. This mess each understands that he took on His sinless nature; that He "in all points was tempted like as we are, yet with sin," not tempted unlike as we are. He was tempted from within as we are, "yet without sin," as well as from without. The world ( yes, in the church) desperately needs to understand the most precious Good News that is in this truth. Many are confused. (Read Jean Zurcher's book, Touched With Our Feelings. It is a significant breakthrough that encourage all thoughtful Seventh-day Adventists to recognize that revival and reformation will yet take place within the organized church.)

7. Undreamed of joy awaits all who understand and believe the biblical view of the two covenants. It was probably the most contested truth that the Lord "sent" us a century ago, and is only now beginning to come into its own as people study the difference between the 1888 view and the popular view held by most today. Again, it is precious Good News that non of the Evangelicals or Roman Catholic Churches as yet can comprehend; and many of us have only dim views of it.

There are other treasures that Jesus said are "new and old" awaiting us. When you understand that message that will lighten the earth with glory, you will in spite of yourself share it. Jeremiah said that God's truth was something he couldn't keep inside: "Your message is like a fire burning deep within me. I try my best to hold it in, but can no longer keep it back. (20:9). So, it won't be you that wins souls during the loud cry; it will be the Holy Spirit using you to share Good News that is better than most Christians have ever dreamed of.

The 1888 message was "the beginning" of what must become the greatest work of soul-winning the world has ever seen in 6,000 years. When it was "in a great degree" rejected, that "efficiently" (as Ellen White described it) was likewise "in a great degree" curtailed. The Good News is that the message will yet triumph, and "the efficiency" will be recovered.

Is the General Conference Studying this message -- 1888 Message?

We cannot speak for the General Conference, but it is common knowledge that four years ago they appointed a special committee of scholars to meet with fine for six representatives of the 1888 Message Study Committee. Their assignment was to study the essential, unique elements of the message to determine whether or not they are biblically authentic. The final meeting was in February 2000.

Yes, there has been some resistance to certain aspects of the 1888 message. There have even been published objections to the truth of the message; there also has been some definite support. It can be said accurately that no essential element of the 1888 message published during the past decades have been refuted. On the contrary, the more these topics are closely examined, the greater is the support that develops.

Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit will help us to sense the special reality of why in the latter rain has been so long delayed. It is good for us to pray for the latter rain each morning, but should we not validate our own prayers by learning what is that message which the Lord sent to us as its beginning? How can we ask Heaven to give us something when we don't receive or even understand what was the "beginning" of what we are asking for?

What the future may hold, we leave in God's hands.

Can't Stop God

There is no God or so they say
you have the right to think that way
you can't believe in what you can't prove
and you can't stop God from loving you (Agape)