The following are all quotes from The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, from the Destruction of Jerusalem, to the End of the Conflict (commonly known today as SOP volume 4)
In talking about the Jews:
Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God.
………….
God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but he leaves the rejecters of his mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.
…………..
In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and Heaven takes place the final coronation of the Son of God. And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against his government, and executes justice upon those who have transgressed his law and oppressed his people.
=======================
This is one of the biggest contradictions i can find in material with Ellen White’s name on the cover, after her husband’s death in 1881. The only bigger one i can think of are the quotes that the words in the Bible are inspired, then the one quote in Selected Messages that they are not inspired.
Does anyone have any input on this contradiction?
Someone is not going to relish standing before God in the day of Judgment, as a work that has, and is, destroying many honest souls has been perpetrated by tampering with the words God had his messenger write.
Daniel, there is no contradiction here, only a seeming one. In the book The Great Controversy, p.672 we read that after the thousand years, the unsaved of all ages, especially the most violent of the nations, will turn upon Satan and his agents in deception with the fury of demons. “Their rage is kindled against Satan and those who have been his agents in deception, and with the fury of demons they turn upon them.”
The Lord will not have to lift one finger against Satan or all the wicked for they will destroy themselves. Yet the language of the Bible is that God will bring fire upon them to consume them all. That does not mean that that fire will come directly from the Lord upon them but that the Lord will not be able to prevent it. In that gigantice battle that will ensue, the wicked with their sophisticated weapons will trigger terrible fire cataclysisms (triggering earthquakes and volcanoes) and they will all be engulfed. In that day, God will not be the executioner of the sentence against transgression. He will simply allow sin to take its final course. Calamity, disaster, and mental agony will fall upon the wicked but God will not be directly responsible for these woes. He will not intervene.
Because He will not prevent these things from happening to the wicked, the language of the Bible can be easily misinterpreted. That language must be understood and interpreted by the principles of His dealing with sin, principles which are ever the same and these principles have been revealed to us as a people and yet it is as though they had not been.
“I was shown the the judgments of God would not come directly out from the Lord upon them but in this way–they place themselves beyond His protection.” E.G. White, 14 MR 3.1.
This principle is so clear that none need err regarding the character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles of His dealing with sin.
Back to you,
sky 🙂
“Yet the language of the Bible is that God will bring fire upon them to consume them all. That does not mean that that fire will come directly from the Lord upon them but that the Lord will not be able to prevent it.”
.
“Not able to prevent it”? Why do you twist and turn the plain words of God to suit some fanciful interpretation made up by erring mortals?
.
God says he “executes justice”. The Bible is full of places where he has done that in the past, and will do it in the future. Why is it difficult to believe what God says? Or do you really believe God is lying when he says he threw the false prophet into the lake of fire, that his angel killed 185,000 Assyrians, that he killed Onan, that he rained fire on Sodom, that he brought a flood on the world, that he rained fire down on the wicked at the end etc. etc. etc.?
Daniel, I believe that God executes justice just as you do, but not man’s way. Did not God execute justice on Saul? The Bible says that “God slew Him and turned the kingdom over to David.” 1 Chronicles 10:14. God did execute justice on Saul but how? Saul had committed the unpardonable sin and God was forced to withraw His protection from Him and Saul was left with no power to control the evil passions of the soul and with no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. Saul killed himself with a sword. 1 Chronicles 10:4. This is how God slew him, not directly, any more then He directly struck down Annanias and Sapphira.
God executed justice on Sodom and Gomorrah and the antediluvians the same way he did on Saul. It is the same language over again and the same principle involved. The fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah did not come directly out from the Lord. It came because the Lord could no longer prevent it. It is a proven fact that there were volcanoes in that area. When the Lord was forced to remove His protection from these cities, there was nothing to prevent these volcanoes from erupting. God did not directly send fire upon them any more than He will directly send fire upon the wicked after the 1,000 years. The wicked will destroy themselves by fire as they will turn upon Satan and his angels with the fury of demons. See G.C.672 and Ezekiel 28. The same thing happened at the time of the flood. More on that later.
God also executed justice upon 185,000 Assyrians. They had filled their cup of iniquity. To the holy angels who had been protecting these men from the malice and enmity of Satan since they were born, God said, “No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy. Let him work out his malignity upon them. They have advanced from one degree of wickedness to another, adding daily to their lawlessness. I will no longer interfere to prevent the destroyer from doing his work.” See E.G. White, Review & Herald, Vol4, p.335.
It takes mighty angels to protect us all from the malice and malignity of the destroyer. When the cup of iniquity is full and when God is obliged to say to the holy angels who protect us, “No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy,” justice is executed upon the wicked.
This is how God executes justice.
Daniel, I hope and pray that you will recognize that the above is not a private opinion but the Lord’s own interpreation of what He means when He says that He will do this or that or the other thing.
sky 🙂
No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy. Let him work out his malignity upon them.”
.
A very fanciful interpretation, one very pleasing to Satan.
No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy. Let him work out his malignity upon them.”
.
A very fanciful interpretation, one very pleasing to Satan.
______________
Daniel! What interpretation? There was no attempt made to interpret anything. This is what the Lord says to His holy angels when the cup of iniquity is full. Here are the two statements in full:
“I was shown that Satan would entangle and then destroy, if he could, the souls he had tempted. God will bear long, but there is a line which marks His mercy and His justice. I was shown that the judgments of God WOULD NOT COME DIRECTLY OUT FROM THE LORD UPON THEM, but in this way–THEY PLACE THEMSELVES BEYOND HIS PROTECTION. He warns, corrects, reproves, and points out the only path of safety; then, if those who have been the objects of His special care follow their own course, independent of the Spirit of God, after repeated warnings, if they chose their own way, then HE DOES NOT COMMISSION HIS ANGELS TO PREVENT SATAN’S DECIDED ATTACKS UPON THEM.” E.G. White, Manuscript Releases, Vol.14, 3.1
“Men have reached a point in insolence and disobedience which shows that their cup of iniquity is almost full. Many have well-nigh passed the boundary of mercy. Soon God will show that He is the living God. He will say to the angels, ‘NO LONGER COMBAT SATAN IN HIS EFFORTS TO DESTROY. LET HIM WORK OUT HIS MALIGNITY UPON THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE; FOR THE CUP OF INIQUITY IS FULL. They have advanced from one degree of wickednesss to another, adding daily to their lawlessness. I WILL NO LONGER INTERFERE TO PREVENT THE DESTROYER FROM DOING HIS WORK.” E.G. White, Review & Herald, Vol.4,335.
Certainly these interpretations from the SoP are not pleasing to Satan. They expose him as the destroyer. They reveal that it is him who has clothed our good and gracious Lord with his own attributes!
As you can see these two statements shed abundant light as to how God destroys, how the angels of God destroy.
sky