Last GenerationTheology the historical
Adventist view. By Ron Corson
Mark Finley recently gave a sermon
that deals with Last Generation Theology (LGT). He begins with this
paragraph:
The Bible makes a stunning prediction.
At the end of time, God will have a group of people that are totally
completely loyal to him. A people whose hearts are undivided. A
people whose lives reflect the character of Christ fully. When that
happens, the earth will be lightened with the glory of God. This will
be a loyal people, an obedient people right here on this sinful
planet. Now, some people call this concept last generation theology.
But is it biblical? And what do we mean by that? Can grace so
transform us that we live loyal lives? When we use the term
perfection, what does that mean? We're going to probe that in this
presentation. Let's be honest, it almost sounds like it's impossible
to live obedient, godly lives in this sinful world. We look around,
we see compromise in the world. We see weakness in the church. We see
inconsistency in ourselves. We believe in grace but complete
obedience. And then we wonder, can Jesus only pardon our sin? Or can
Jesus deliver us from sin? And if he can, can he only deliver us from
grosser, larger sins? Or can he deliver us from sins of of attitude
and disposition? In Revelation 14:12, we find these words, Revelation
the 14th chapter and the 12th verse. And the Bible says, "Here
is the patience of the saints. Here are those that keep the
commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus." So the
question isn't will God have such a people? The question really is
how will that people be revealed and how will they be enabled to keep
the commandments of God? How actually is this going to happen? How can broken people like us reflect the
character of Christ? How can a generation raised in weakness become a
2:38 generation that walks in victory?
This sermon has
created a lot of controversy in the SDA church. Is LGT true or not,
is it from Ellen White or the Bible. Is it perhaps just the
misinterpretation of based upon M.L. Andreason [Milian Lauritz Andreasen (1876-1962)
].
There is however only one answer to the question and that
is that it is the historical position of the Adventist denomination. It was set forth by the Adventist pioneers, the
followers of William Miller who expected the second coming to occur
in 1843 and then 1844. After the great disappointment, the Adventist
pioneers followed Ellen White in her belief that the door of
salvation had been closed. The key text that Mark Finley used was Revelation 14:12 was one of the key texts that those Adventist
pioneers used in their writing after 1844. They thought they were the final generation.
Ellen White writes in her first book
Early Writings:
“Servants of God, endowed with power from on high
with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, went
forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered
all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the
precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot was hurried
out of Sodom before her destruction. God’s people were strengthened
by the excellent glory which rested upon them in rich abundance and
prepared them to endure the hour of temptation. I heard everywhere a
multitude of voices saying, “Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus.” EW 278.2
["This volume is a comprehensive selection of
Ellen G. White’s published writings from the 1850s, along with a
prologue explaining the historical background of the text. The
autobiographical section of the book describes the author’s
conversion experience, the Millerite movement of 1840-1844, and the
early visions that formed the foundation of her theology and
ministry." from the publisher]
What is important to remember is that this
was at a time before the Adventist pioneers came to the conclusion
that Saturday was the seventh-day sabbath. From the very beginning, many of the Adventist pioneers read their current generation in the
book of Revelation. Mark Finley has taken the Adventist history of
reading themselves into Revelation, but in this case, he puts a future final generation reading into it. He and
Adventists also see themselves as the three angels' messages of the book of Revelation
Adventists have also used the verse
above to show that they are the true church because they keep the
true sabbath. Finley has simply taken the position that the first use by the Adventists was true for the early pioneers who thought
that they were on the narrow path that took them to heaven. Continued
to use the same verse to show that the Adventists are the true
commandment keepers, and finally used the verse to show that there is
a last generation of people who have been perfected by God to lead
lives which are pure enough to be called perfect in a final generation.
Again from the book Early Writings:
“While I was praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon
me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark
world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could
not find them, when a voice said to me, “Look again, and look a
little higher.” At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and
narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent
people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of
the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the beginning
of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light
shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so that they
might not stumble. If they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was
just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon
some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they
expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them
by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light
which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, “Alleluia!”
Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not
God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out,
leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost
sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the
dark and wicked world below. Soon we [See Appendix.] heard the voice
of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’
coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the
voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake.
When God spoke the time, He poured upon us the Holy Ghost, and our
faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’
did when he came down from Mount Sinai."
"The 144,000 were all sealed and
perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem,
and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name. At our happy, holy
state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay
hands on us to thrust us into prison, when we would stretch forth the
hand in the name of the Lord, and they would fall helpless to the
ground. Then it was that the synagogue of Satan knew that God had
loved us who could wash one another’s feet and salute the brethren
with a holy kiss, and they worshiped at our feet." (EW 14-15)
The historical Prologue of Early
Writings states:
“James and Ellen White took their stand purely
from the scriptural evidence to which their minds had been directed
in the Bates tract. Then on the first Sabbath in April, 1847, seven
months after they began to keep and teach the Seventh-day Sabbath,
the Lord gave a vision to Mrs. White at Topsham, Maine, in which the
importance of the Sabbath was stressed. She saw the tables of the law
in the ark in the heavenly sanctuary, and a halo of light about the
fourth commandment. See pages 32-35 for the account of this vision.
The position previously taken from the study of the word of God was
confirmed. The vision also helped to broaden the believer’s concept
of Sabbath observance. In this revelation, Mrs. White was carried
down to the close of time and saw the Sabbath as the great testing
truth on which men decide whether to serve God or to serve an
apostate power. Looking back in 1874 to this experience, she wrote:
“I believed the truth upon the
Sabbath question before I had seen anything in vision in reference to
the Sabbath. It was months after I had commenced keeping the Sabbath
before I was shown its importance and its place in the third angel’s
message.”—E. G. White Letter 2, 1874. (EW xxi.1-xxii.1
This Historical Prologue of the book
Early Writings also presents this about the Shut door:
“Certain
references occur in this work, on pages 42-45, to the “open door”
and the “shut door.” This is correctly understood only in the
light of the background of the experience of our early believers.
Not too long after the Disappointment
the pioneers saw that while there were those who through the definite
rejection of light had closed the door to their salvation, there were
many who had not heard the message and had not rejected it, and these
might benefit from the provisions made for man’s salvation. By the
early 1850’s these points stood out clearly. Then too, avenues for
the presentation of the three angels’ messages were beginning to
open up. Prejudice was dying away. Ellen White, looking back to their
experience following the Disappointment wrote:
“‘It was then next to impossible to
obtain access to unbelievers. The disappointment in 1844 had confused
the minds of many, and they would not listen to any explanation of
the matter.’”—The Review and Herald, November 20, 1883.
But in 1851 Elder White was able to
report: “‘Now the door is open almost everywhere to present the
truth, and many are prepared to read the publications who have
formerly had no interest to investigate.’”—The Review and
Herald, August 19, 1851. (EW xxix.4-xxx.3) See also
https://whiteestate.org/about/issues1/unusual/shut-door/
Here is a common example of how
Adventism has used Revelation 14:12:
The second angel warns us to watch
out for the wine of Babylon, and the third angel warns us that false
worship will be introduced by Babylon, and that it will be associated
with a specific “mark.” The third message ends with a people who
believe God. They are loyal to Him, and they worship Him. Revelation
14:12 says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who
keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” These saints
endure and keep the commandments of God and keep the faith of Jesus.
Both characteristics have meaning. We will look at them separately.
The first defining characteristic is,
“those who keep the commandments of God”. At the center of the
commandments is the fourth commandment, which is the commandment to
keep the Sabbath holy as the ultimate seal of God. We will look at 7
aspects that differentiate the seal of God from the mark of the
beast.” The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1
There are other factors to the LGT one
of which is the idea that the perfected last generation
somehow vindicates God. As this paper states:
“Andreasen’s Great Controversy
theme does not differ much from Ellen White’s. In fact, his beliefs
were based on White’s concept. The slight difference is in the
purpose of the saints and their righteous lives. According to the
Spirit of Prophecy, the saints, through their lives, will help
vindicate the character of God, while Andreasen went further by
teaching that the vindication of God’s character depends on the
saints. If they fail, God fails. Satan can still claim victory over
God if the saints fail. However, the Spirit of Prophecy teaches that
victory over Satan had already been accomplished on Calvary when
Jesus cried, “It is finished.” (A Critical Evaluation of The LastGeneration Theology (LGT) of (L) ML Andreasen Through the Lens of TheScriptures and The Writings of Ellen G. White Dr. Koberson Langhu, Assistant
Professor, Division of Religious Studies, Spicer Adventist
University”
Earlier in the paper Dr. Koberson
Langhu wrote: "
According to Ellen White, Satan has
accused God, saying that He cannot forgive the saints because they
have committed many sins. And if He forgives them and yet destroys
him and his angels, it would be an injustice on His part. To prove
Satan wrong and to show that the saints have confessed their sins and
have been forgiven, God “permits him to try them to the uttermost”
(White 1939, 618). She also points out that God has His people who
are “to be the depositories of His holy law and to vindicate His
character before the world,” a “distinct people, a church on
earth, second to none, but superior to all in their facilities to
teach the truth, to vindicate the law of God” (White 1962, 58).
They are to manifest His glory through their lives and character. She
teaches that the saints will play a part in vindicating God’s
character. However, we do not find any statement where she claims
that the vindication of God’s character depends on the faithfulness
of the saints.
It should be noted here that if someone
has to vindicate someone else, the vindication must be essential to
the process or it would not be a vindication. That is the key problem
for both Ellen White and Andreasen. We note that Ellen White uses the
term "vindicate" or "vindication" but we also note that she says the following and here is the full quote rather than the snippet that is most often used in certain highly edited books put out by the White Estate:
“Christ on the cross not only draws men to repentance toward God
for the transgression of His law—for whom God pardons He first
makes penitent—but Christ has satisfied Justice; He has proffered
Himself as an atonement. His gushing blood, His broken body, satisfy
the claims of the broken law, and thus He bridges the gulf which sin
has made. He suffered in the flesh, that with His bruised and broken
body He might cover the defenseless sinner. The victory gained at His
death on Calvary broke forever the accusing power of Satan over the
universe and silenced his charges that self-denial was impossible
with God and therefore not essential in the human family.
Satan’s position in heaven had been
next to the Son of God. He was first among the angels. His power had
been debasing, but God could not reveal it in its true light and
carry all heaven in harmony with him in removing him with his evil
influences. His power was increasing, but [the] evil [was] yet
unrecognized. It was a deadly power to the universe, but for the
security of the worlds and the government of heaven, it was necessary
that it should develop and be revealed in its true light.
In carrying out his enmity to Christ
until He hung upon the cross of Calvary, with wounded, bruised body
and broken heart, Satan completely uprooted himself from the
affections of the universe. It was then seen that God had in His Son
denied Himself, giving Himself for the sins of the world, because He
loved mankind. The Creator was revealed in the Son of the infinite
God. Here the question, “Can there be self-denial with God?” was
forever answered. Christ was God, and condescending to be made flesh,
He assumed humanity and became obedient unto death, that He might
undergo infinite sacrifice.
Whatever sacrifice a human being could
undergo Christ endured, notwithstanding Satan put forth every effort
to seduce Him with temptations; but the greater the temptation, the
more perfect was the sacrifice. All that was possible for man to
endure in the conflict with Satan, Christ endured in His human and
divine nature combined. Obedient, sinless to the last, He died for
man, his substitute and surety, enduring all that men ever endure
from the deceiving tempter, that man may overcome by being a partaker
of the divine nature.” Letters and Manuscripts Volume 15 1900 March
28 {15LtMs. Ms 50 1900}
This leaves the question of what could
possibly be needed to vindicate God.
From Ellen White we have
a couple of statements.
Let all be careful not to make an
outcry against the only people who are fulfilling the description
given of the remnant people, who keep the commandments of God and
have faith in Jesus.... God has a distinct people, a church on
earth, second to none, but superior to all in their facilities to
teach the truth, to vindicate the law of God.... My brother, if you
are teaching that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, you
are wrong.—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 50, 58, 59
(1893). [The book of Revelation focuses on two sets of God’s
people—the visible remnant (12:17) and “My people” in Babylon
(18:4). This chapter deals with the former, and chapter 14, “The
Loud Cry,” deals with the latter.] (Lde 43.1-3)
Of the Spirit Jesus said, “He
shall glorify Me.” The Saviour came to glorify the Father by the
demonstration of His love; so the Spirit was to glorify Christ by
revealing His grace to the world. The very image of God is to be
reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is
involved in the perfection of the character of His people. (DA
671.3)
{{Perfection of character vs. royal law
of liberty.]
I have to note here that she had a second paragraph which
kind of changes things in the 1904 Review and Herald:
“At the
cost of infinite sacrifice and suffering, Christ has provided for us
every essential to success in the Christian warfare. The Holy Spirit
brings power that enables man to overcome. It is through the agency
of the Spirit that the government of Satan is to be subdued. It is
the Spirit that convinces of sin, and, with the consent of the human
being, expels sin from the heart. The mind is then brought under a
new law,—the royal law of liberty.” (RH May 19. 1904 par 5)“When the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is
come.” Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation
of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be
perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.” (COL 69.1)
Can these quotes be harmonized to be a
vindication of God or of God's law? We will assume, since Ellen
White thought that the law of God was a transcript of God's
character, that they are one and the same. Is there a reason to
vindicate God's law? Biblically, there is nothing that accuses God's
law of having any sort of problem. The only problem likely is that people don't like to keep God's law. So if the law is not the
problem, then that leaves God Himself as the one who needs to be
vindicated. That moves us to number 2 above, the honor of God and
Christ is involved in the perfection of Character. This idea is less
about vindicating God but about the healing and restoration that God
gives to us. It even seems more useful in the context of the Royal
law mentioned in the book of James, as you shall love your neighbor as
yourself, it is not a burden as God has written on the heart in the
new covenant, it is not rule keeping but love and justice where mercy
triumphs over judgment, as those who receive mercy show mercy. But
the law of liberty is fulfilled in Christ, which is why He says my
yoke is easy my burden light (Matt 11:30), and who the Lord has set
free is free indeed (John 8:36). As the Holy Spirit convicts of sin
and evicts the attraction of sin from the heart of people, the U-turn
of the road of life as Hank Hanegraaff would often describe
repentance. It is not a vindication that God can do something; the
creator of the Universe can, as Paul says, change in an instant death
to life and transform those still alive (1 Corinthians 15:52). There
is no need for last generation theology; it is very much the
conclusion of the plan of salvation. One could argue that the plan of
salvation includes this as its last generation theology, but the
point here is that it is not needed, and the plan succeeds without any
LGT.
Number 3 gives us the idea that Christ
has not been manifested in the Christian church and will someday
perfectly reproduce His character in both the church and his people.
When this character perfection is attained by the remnant
people/church, then the harvest occurs. That is perhaps the best
statement that comes close to being a vindication. When it occurs, then the harvest at the end of the world can happen. Yet it
comes back to this is not even close to being a vindication of God as
much as a completion of God's plan of redemption/salvation. In which
case, it is only a vindication in that God has finished what He
started. To vindicate according to Merriam Webster's dictionary, the
first two definitions are:
a. to free from allegation or blame
b.: confirm, substantiate
The problem is that there are two different presuppositions for Adventists: For many, maybe even most Adventists today, they begin with what is termed the Great Controversy Theme/view, and it is extra-biblical. When you look at Ellen White's quotes with her Great
Controversy view, you have to say that there was, before the
earth was created. a claim made by Satan, known to Adventists as Lucifer, that God's government was unfair. That the Law is unjust and
cannot be kept. If one uses the extra-biblical worldview of Ellen
White than it can become human vindication. By keeping the
commandments, humans prove the law is holy, just, and good, and this
vindicates the Heavenly Government
So under Ellen White's view
humans can vindicate God by proving to the Universe that God's law
can be kept by humans and that by perfecting a final generation, God
proves his reputation by getting humans to the spiritually healthy,
sinless state proving God power to heal and restore. Adventists who
take this route often say something about our mission is vindicate
the character of God. So Adventists are at an impasse; they want to be
Biblical yet want to follow their prophet, whom they often refer to as
the spirit of prophecy, pen of inspiration, the Lord's Messenger, the
Testimonies. But there are two different starting points, which necessitate two different ending points.
2-14-26 Update
I just saw that Heritage & Hope Ministries 18 hours ago from this writing posted a video entitled God's Character and the Last Generation I will at some point do more on this video but to begin with there are a couple things which verify my presentation above. I won't place them in order but we have about 33 minutes we hear one of the presenters say:
32:39
...if you believe that, if you believe that we're all born guilty of sin, that there's something in our nature that causes us to be guilty at birth, or that there's something there that cannot be changed until our flesh is changed, then you've created a situation where no amount of remediation by God works until he actually changes your flesh. And so that means that you don't really have a choice. You can try and God can help you. That's why it's only partial. It's never complete as that quote was saying, which is an error. Again, it's like making an excuse for sin. You can say, "I was born this way, and I can only go so far, and there is an excuse, well, then I cannot keep the law of God." Well, then, as soon as there's an excuse for sin, in a sense, it would become, it ceased to become sin. It would cease to be sin. And this is all about the great controversy over the law of God.
Notice how the root to this person is the great controversy over the law of God. Not a biblical concept! Next they spend time complaining about a book entitled God's Character in the Last Generation. We hear this from the presenter:
6:49 And so with that in mind, you know, we do want to have a correct understanding of those who are living on this earth and their nature as we go forward. Will they be able to overcome sin? Will they not be able to overcome sin? What about the close of probation? What about Christ's administration in the most holy place above? These are all details that are very important to present truth-believing Seventh-day Adventists.
This brings us to the first point of the presentation, which is that Adventists hold to a unique view of the Sanctuary in heaven. Thus, he says, what bout the close of probation (to an SDA that is when Christ ends his intercession in heaven and throws down his censor, and once intercession has ended, we stand without an intercessor before God. (Again, not a biblical view because the Bible specifically says Heb 7:25) He continues that these are very important to present truth-believing SDA's. What does Present truth mean to SDA's? To Adventists present truth is the teaching of the Adventist church. That is different from Biblical truths as the present truths are time sensitive; it is a message of the last days, it is based on their understanding of prophecy, which is centered upon Ellen White, their last-day prophet. It directs them on how to live, Sabbath as the seal of God and a coming Sunday law which restricts them from worshipping on the Sabbath and Sunday at that time will be called the mark of the beast (at that time being once probation closes) And lastly they claim it is consistent with the Bible, which is only possible if one interprets the Bible according to their Present Truth traditions.
The important point is again we have two different starting points and two different ending points as the Adventist Church does not start at the Bible but starts at a pre biblical Great Controversy in heaven and ends with the Great Controversy concluded with human beings vindicating that God's law can be kept by human beings.
