Satan is a cunning foe.  As ever before, in these last days of earth’s history, Satan is using all manner of false doctrines, heresies, and deceptions to mislead the minds of men.  In these last days, Satan is working “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10).  But deception is Satan’s life.  “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).

God established His government upon obedience to His moral law.  He gave to man dominion over the earth, and a beautiful home in Eden.  Satan came along, deceived man into disobedience, and sin entered the world.  Jesus came to save man from sin.  “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  Jesus reestablishes His government on obedience.  “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

But Satan unleashes his mass deceptions to keep man in a life of disobedience.  Satan cunningly gives man excuses for disobeying God.  The most deceptive of these excuses Satan gave to King Saul.  God asked Saul to destroy the wicked Amalekites and all their properties including their cattle.  Saul decided to spare some of their finest cattle.  And the excuse he gave? Saul said, “for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed” (1 Samuel 15:15).  The deceptive excuse here was disobeying God in order to sacrifice for and worship God.  What a deception!

First, Saul blamed “the people” for sparing the animals, trying to shift the responsibility for the act of disobedience.  But Saul was in charge, and he had received the orders from God.  Second, he tried to make it seem that it was a trifling matter, because “the rest” of God’s word had been fulfilled.  Only one little deviation was made, so why make such a big deal out of it, and besides, these animals were not for them; they were to be used for worshiping God!  But God could not accept such a deceptive excuse.  “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Today, millions of Christians follow in the footsteps of Saul.  God has clearly instructed man to keep the Sabbath, but man disobeys.  In His own handwriting, God wrote: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work” (Exodus 20:10).  Even a child can understand those words.  Yet, when the seventh day begins each week millions are still out there in the market place carrying on business as usual and violating the clear, specific command of God.  The excuse they give?  ‘What matters is to love Jesus Christ, not to keep the law.’  But Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  Below are four of Satan’s mass deceptions.

 

Deceit One: God’s law abolished

Satan deceives the world that God’s law was abolished or changed at Calvary.  The Israelites received two laws from Moses: the law of Moses, that of ordinances and ceremonies; and the Law of God, embodied in the Ten Commandments, which is an expression of God’s character.  God’s character does not change, and neither does His Law.  “My covenant will I not break,” He says, “nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips” (Psalms 89:34).

The law of Moses, which foreshadowed Christ’s sacrifice, was indeed made irrelevant, but Paul maintains that the Law of God is to be kept, though we now be under grace.  “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).  “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?  God forbid” (Romans 6:15).

Paul talks about the end of sacrificial laws as nailed on the cross. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14).  Notice, there was nothing in the moral law, the Ten Commandment law, which could be defined as “contrary” to Paul and the church to whom he was writing, and it was not “against” those early Christians to refrain from adultery, theft, or killing, as found in the Ten Commandments.   Paul was here talking of the ceremonial laws being nailed on the cross.  Paul affirms the moral law, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

It was the law of Moses, the sacrificial or ceremonial laws, the type or shadow of Christ’s sacrifice, that ended on the cross.  The moral law was never a type or a shadow.  God could not change nor alter one precept of His moral law in order to save man; for the law is the foundation of His government.  It is unchangeable, unalterable, infinite, and eternal.  In order for man to be saved, and for the honour of the law to be maintained, it was necessary for the Son of God to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin.  His death shows the wonderful love of God for man, and the immutability of His law.

God is holy and the law is holy.  “But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness” (Isaiah 5:16).   “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

Many religious teachers assert that Christ by His death abolished the law, and men are henceforth free from its requirements. There are some who represent it as a grievous yoke, and in contrast to the bondage of the law they present the liberty to be enjoyed under the gospel.

But not so did prophets and apostles regard the holy law of God. Said David: “I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” (Psalms 119:45).  The apostle James, who wrote after the death of Christ, refers to the moral law as “the royal law” and “the perfect law of liberty” (James 2:8; 1:25).  And the revelator, half a century after the crucifixion, pronounces a blessing upon them “that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).

The claim that Christ by His death abolished His Father’s law is without foundation.  Had it been possible for the law to be changed or set aside, then Christ need not have died to save man from the penalty of transgressing the law.  The death of Christ, so far from abolishing the law, proves that it is immutable.  The Son of God came to “magnify the law, and make it honourable” (Isaiah 42:21).  And concerning Himself He declares: “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40:8).

The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable.  “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18).  It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author.

God is love, and His law is love.  Its two great principles are love to God and love to man. “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).

The character of God is righteousness and truth; such is the nature of His law.  Says the psalmist: “Thy law is the truth”; “all thy commandments are righteousness” (Psalms 119:142, 172).  And the apostle Paul declares: “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).  Such a law, being an expression of the mind and will of God, must be as enduring as its Author.

It is the work of conversion and sanctification to reconcile men to God by bringing them into accord with the principles of His law.  “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalms 19:7).

In the beginning, man was created in the image of God.  He was in perfect harmony with the nature and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were written upon his heart.  But sin alienated him from his Maker.  He no longer reflected the divine image.  But “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” (John 3:16) that man might be reconciled to God.  Through the merits of Christ he can be restored to harmony with his Maker.

 

Deceit Two: Sunday for Sabbath

Almost the whole of Christian world keeps Sunday instead of the seventh-day Sabbath.   They heed not the warning of Christ when He said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).

Many have not studied the Bible for themselves to prove whether Sunday is sacred.  But the Bible does not teach that Sunday is sacred.  Those who worship on Sunday claim to do so on the account that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday after Jesus resurrected.  But there is no biblical mandate to change the Sabbath to Sunday.

God, “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17), does not change (Malachi 3:6).  If God does not change, neither will His Law.  “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalms 89:34).  “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).  “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness” (Psalms 111:7, 8).

In the New Testament, the seventh day of the week is called the Sabbath; it is mentioned 58 times.  Sunday, the first day of the week, is mentioned eight times.  It is simply called the first day of the week, and it is always differentiated from the Sabbath.  This in itself is evidence for the continued validity of the seventh-day Sabbath.  But we should examine the eight times Sunday or the first day of the week is mentioned to see if Scripture makes it holy.

First, we know that Jesus resurrected on Sunday.  The Bible says that day was the first day of the week, after the Sabbath had ended.  “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre” (Matthew 28:1).  Clearly Sunday is not made holy here and not the Sabbath.

Second, the same message is clearly taught by Mark.  “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepul­chre?” (Mark 16:1–3).

Third, we are again told, “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9).  Sunday is still not holy.

We all know that Jesus died on Friday, commonly called the good Friday.  That day is said to have been a day before the Sabbath.  “This man (Joseph of Arimathaea) went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on” (Luke 23:52–54).

Luke further narrates what happened next.  “And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment” (Verses 55, 56).  Clearly, after Friday, the next day was the Sabbath.  We know the day after Friday is Saturday.  Clearly then, the Sabbath is Saturday.

Fourth, we note that after the Sabbath, after Saturday, Luke explains what the next day was.  “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre” (Luke 24:1, 2).  Note that Sunday was a normal working day after the Sabbath, and Sunday is not regarded as holy.

Fifth, John also gives the same information that Sunday was a day after the Sabbath.  “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre” (John 20:1).

Sixth, John narrates what had befallen the disciples on that Sunday when Jesus resurrected.  We are told, for fear of the Jews, the disciples had assembled in hiding, and this was not because Sunday was holy.  “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19).

Seventh, we come to a text often misinterpreted to mean that there was a service gathering on Sunday in Corinth.  “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come … whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem” (1 Corinthians 16:1, 2).  There is no Sunday sacredness here, but collection of food and necessities to send to needy Christians in Jerusalem done on the first working day of the week (Sunday).

Eighth, we read about Paul’s preaching from after the Sabbath into hours of Sunday.  “And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:6, 7).  In the morning of Sunday, we see Paul departing, and no suggestion that Sunday was kept as holy in this passage.

Of all the eight verses that mention the first day of the week, none makes it holy.  There is absolutely no evidence in the Bible that God changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and no evidence that Sunday is holy.  Sunday is not holy but a weekly working day.

Jesus never changed the Sabbath.  It is said of Jesus, “as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day” (Luke 4:16).  Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17, 18).  Jesus later affirms, “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10), which commandments included Sabbath keeping.

The apostles never changed the Sabbath.  After Jesus resurrected and went to heaven, the apostles continued to keep the Sabbath and never changed it to Sunday.  We are told of Paul, “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath … And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:42, 44).

Even when Paul went to places where there is no synagogue and no Jews, he kept the Sabbath holy.  In Greece, we are told of Paul, “And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spoke unto the women which resorted thither” (Acts 16:13).

It was Paul’s custom to keep the Sabbath holy, as we are told, “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures” (Acts 17:2).   Again, “And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Acts 18:4).

So, if Jesus and the apostles never changed that Sabbath, who did?  The prophet Daniel declared that the Roman Church, symbolized by the little horn, was to think to change times and laws (Daniel 7:25), while Paul styled it the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4), who was to exalt himself above God.  Only by changing God’s law could the Papacy exalt itself above God.  Whoever should understandingly keep the law as thus changed would be giving supreme honour to that power by which the change was made.

The papacy freely admits that they made the change from Sabbath to Sunday.  Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism: Q. Which is the Sabbath day? A. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday (Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, St Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1957 edition, p 50).

Another quote: Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
Q. How prove you that?
A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest [of the feasts] by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power (Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, D.D. (R.C.), (1833), page 58).

Another quote: Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her – she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority (Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, third American edition, revised, edn., p. 174).

Another quote: The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday! (Catechism of the Council of Trent, second revised edition (English), 1937, page 402, First published in 1566).

So the papacy is saying that they changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday – a change that virtually the entire Christian world accepts.

Virtually all churches admit in their official writings that there is no Scripture support for Sunday sacredness.  Tragically, both Protestantism and Catholicism stand guilty before the judgment bar of God for throwing out the Bible Sabbath!  God Himself gave the Sabbath as a sign, or mark, of His power to create and His power to sanctify and save (Exodus 31:17; Ezekiel 20:12).  Dare any man tamper with this sacred sign, which represents the great God of heaven and all that He stands for?  Will God not avenge the transgression of His law?

Man, not God, sought to change the Sabbath.  The Bible is clear: “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Genesis 2:3).  “Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11).  If God intended for another day to become the Sabbath, He must have removed the blessing from the seventh day and placed it on the day which was to replace it.  But when God bestows a blessing, it is forever.  “…You, O Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:27).  “I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it” (Numbers 23:20).  Your birthday, a memorial of your birth, cannot be changed, though you may celebrate it on a different day.  Neither can the Sabbath, a memorial of creation (Exodus 20:11), be changed.  God says to them that disregard the Sabbath and instead keep Sunday as a day of worship, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7).

 

Deceit Three: Ye shall not surely die

While God was seeking man’s good, Satan was seeking his ruin.  When Eve, disregarding the Lord’s admonition concerning the forbidden tree, ventured to approach it, she came in contact with her foe.  Her interest and curiosity having been awakened, Satan proceeded to deny God’s word, and to insinuate distrust of His wisdom and goodness.  To the woman’s statement concerning the tree of knowledge, “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die,” the tempter made answer, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:3-5).

The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver.  The great original lie, which Satan told to Eve in Eden, “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), was the first sermon ever preached on the immortality of the soul.  That sermon was crowned with success, and terrible results followed.  Satan has brought minds to receive that sermon as truth, and Christian ministers preach it, sing it, and pray it.  What a deception!

After the Fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to inculcate the belief in man’s natural immortality; and having induced the people to receive this error, they were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live in eternal misery.  Now the prince of darkness, working through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, declaring that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him, and causes them ever to feel His wrath.

A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is revolting, are driven to the opposite error.  They see that the Scriptures represent God as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He will consign His creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell.  But holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative but to conclude that all mankind will finally be saved.  Many regard the threatenings of the Bible as designed merely to frighten men into obedience, and not to be literally fulfilled.  Thus the sinner can live in selfish pleasure, disregarding the requirements of God, and yet expect to be finally received into His favour.  What a deception!

God has given to man a declaration of His character, and of His method of dealing with sin.  The Bible says, “All the wicked will he destroy” (Psalms 145:20).  Yet all the manifestations of retributive justice will be perfectly consistent with the character of God as a merciful, long-suffering, benevolent being.

Another extreme which Satan has led the people to adopt is entirely to overlook the justice of God, and the threatenings in His Word, and to represent Him as being all mercy, so that not one will perish, but that all, both saint and sinner, will at last be saved in His kingdom.

In consequence of the popular errors of the immortality of the soul and endless misery, Satan takes advantage of another class and leads them to regard the Bible as an uninspired book.  They think it teaches many good things; but they cannot rely upon it and love it, because they have been taught that it declares the doctrine of eternal misery.

Another class Satan leads on still further, even to deny the existence of God.  They can see no consistency in the character of the God of the Bible, if He will inflict horrible tortures upon a portion of the human family to all eternity.  Therefore they deny the Bible and its Author and regard death as an eternal sleep and disregard the promise of Jesus, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world.  The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die.” “In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4, 5).  Little by little he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism.

Satan’s mass deceptions are upon the world.  Says the prophet: “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs. ... They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:13, 14).  Except those who are kept by the power of God, through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion.  The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God.

But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning of the words, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”?  God declared that as a penalty for his sin, man should return to the ground whence he was taken: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3: 19).  The words of Satan, “Your eyes shall be opened” (Genesis 3:5), proved to be true in this sense only: After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their eyes were opened to discern their folly; they did know evil, and they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.

Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited by transgression.  God in His mercy gave us His to die on the cross and bring immortality within our reach again.  While “death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12), Christ “hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).  And only through Christ can immortality be obtained.  Said Jesus: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life” (John 3:36).  Every man may come into possession of this priceless blessing if he will comply with the conditions.  All “who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality,” will receive “eternal life” (Romans 2:7).

 

Deceit Four: Trinity

The trinity doctrine is not Biblical; apostles never taught it, Seventh-day Adventist pioneers rejected it; Satan seeks to be worshipped through the trinity.  “The Son of God was next in authority to the great Lawgiver. He knew that His life alone could be sufficient to ransom fallen man” (Ellen White, Lift Him Up, p. 24).  “Satan’s position in heaven had been next to the Son of God. He was first among the angels” (Ellen White, 1 Selected Messages, p. 341).  “Satan, the chief of the fallen angels, once had an exalted position in Heaven. He was next in honor to Christ” (E White, Review and Herald, 24 Feb 1874).

Note that Christ was next in authority behind His Father, and the third highest being was none other than Satan himself.  Is it any wonder that Satan has since created the trinity to maintain his third position and even elevated himself to a third trinity god?

“Speaking of Satan, our Lord says that ‘he abode not in the truth.’ He was once the covering cherub, glorious in beauty and holiness. He was next to Christ in exaltation and character. It was with Satan that self-exaltation had its origin. He became jealous of Christ, and falsely accused him, and then laid blame upon the Father. He was envious of the position that was held by Christ and the Father, and he turned from his allegiance to the Commander of heaven and lost his high and holy estate” (Ellen White, Review and Herald, 22 October 1895).

Note in the above quote Christ and the Father are the highest Beings in heaven.  Satan wanted to be like God.  Satan was not envious of a “Holy Spirit Being”, for there is never such a separate individual as the trinity teaches.  Satan wanted to form a trinity of gods.  He became jealous of the Son of God.  Now on this planet he has declared that there is a trinity of gods to be worshipped.  But the Father and Son alone are to be exalted.  Satan has created a false god, a Baalim.  “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4).  “Thou shall have no other gods before you” (Exodus 20:3).

In his attempt to create a trinity that includes him, Satan deceives souls into thinking the third being is the comforter, shutting Jesus from the view of souls as their comforter. “The reason why the churches are weak and sickly and ready to die is that the enemy has brought influences of a discouraging nature to bear upon trembling souls. He has sought to shut Jesus from their view as the Comforter, as one who reproves, who warns, who admonishes them, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Ellen White, Review and Herald 26 August 1890).  Read booklet “Christ begotten Son of God” on Christ as our Comforter.  Seventh-day Adventist pioneers held two true Fundamental Principles about the Godhead:

“1. That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the Creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal; infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7.

“2. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom he created all things, and by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that he dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in heaven, where through the merits of his shed blood, he secures the pardon and forgiveness of the sins of all those who persistently come to him; and as the closing portion of his work as priest, before he takes his throne as king, he will make the great atonement for the sins of all such, and their sins will then be blotted out (Acts 3: 19) and borne away from the sanctuary, as shown in the service of the Levitical priesthood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in heaven. See Leviticus 16; Heb. 8: 4, 5; 9: 6, 7” (Review and Herald, 22 August 1912, Par 4).

The apostles believed that the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of your Father” (Matthew 10:20); and “the Spirit of Christ which was in” the prophets (1 Peter 1:11); the prophetess Ellen White believed that the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17 “refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, called the Comforter” (Ellen White, 14 Manuscript Release, 179.3); “The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual life in the soul. The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. It imbues the receiver with the attributes of Christ” (Ellen White, Desire of Ages, 805.3).

James White (1821-1881): “As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life in misery. The mass who have held these fundamental errors, have doubtless done it ignorantly; but can it be supposed that the church of Christ will carry along with her these errors till the judgment scenes burst upon the world? We think not. “Here are they [in the period of a message given just before the Son of man takes his place upon the white cloud, Rev. 14:14] that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” This class, who live just prior to the second advent, will not be keeping the traditions of men, neither will they be holding fundamental errors relative to the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.

“And as the true light shines out upon these subjects, and is rejected by the mass, then condemnation will come upon them. When the true Sabbath is set before men, and the claims of the fourth commandment are urged upon them, and they reject this holy institution of the God of heaven, and choose in its place an institution of the beast, it can then be said, in the fullest sense, that such worship the beast. The warning message of the third angel is given in reference to that period, when the mark of the beast will be received, instead of the seal of the living God. Solemn dreadful, swiftly approaching hour!” (J White, RH, 12 September 1854, Par 8).

James White (1821-1881): “Here we might mention the Trinity, which does away the personality of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and of sprinkling or pouring instead of being “buried with Christ in baptism,” “planted in the likeness of his death:” but we pass from these fables to notice one that is held sacred by nearly all professed Christians, both Catholic and Protestant. It is, The change of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment from the seventh to the first day of the week” (James White, Review and Herald, 11 December 1855, Par 16).

James White (1821-1881): “The “mystery of iniquity” began to work in the church in Paul’s day. It finally crowded out the simplicity of the gospel, and corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and the church went into the wilderness. Martin Luther, and other reformers, arose in the strength of God, and with the Word and Spirit, made mighty strides in the Reformation. The greatest fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming. Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the trinity, and Sunday-keeping, the church would now be free from her unscriptural errors” (James White, Review and Herald, 7 February 1856, Par 26).

James White (1821-1881): “The inexplicable Trinity that makes the Godhead three in one and one in three, is bad enough; but that ultra Unitarianism that makes Christ inferior to the Father is worse. Did God say to an inferior, “Let us make man in our image?” (James White, RH, 29 November 1877).

James White (1821-1881): “God is everywhere by virtue of his Spirit, which is his representative, and is manifested wherever he pleases, Ps 139:7-10” (James White, Personality of God, 1861?, p. 4).

 

Conclusion

Satanic mass deceptions lead man to transgress God’s law.  Sunday worship instead of the Biblical Saturday Sabbath breaks the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).  The trinity doctrine in teaching that the Spirit of God is a separate third God, creates a false god contrary to the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). To them that follow these deceptions, God declares: “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7).