“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 KJV.
“The sanctification set forth in the Scriptures embraces the entire being,—spirit, soul, and body. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, that their ‘whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Again he writes to believers, ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.’ The Jews were commanded to offer in sacrifice to God only such animals as were free from disease or blemish. So Christians are required to preserve all their powers in the best possible condition for the Lord’s service. Says Peter, ‘Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.’ The word of God will make but a feeble impression upon those whose faculties are benumbed by any sinful gratification. The heart cannot preserve consecration to God while the animal appetites and passions are indulged at the expense of health and life. Paul writes to the Corinthians, ‘Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’ And with the fruits of the Spirit—’love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,’ —he classes temperance.
Notwithstanding these inspired declarations, how many professed Christians are enfeebling their powers in the pursuit of gain or the worship of fashion; how many are debasing their godlike manhood by gluttony, by wine-drinking, by forbidden pleasure. And the church, instead of rebuking, too often encourages the evil by appealing to appetite, to desire for gain, or love of pleasure, to replenish her treasury, which love for Christ is too feeble to supply. Were Jesus to enter the churches of to-day, and behold the feasting and unholy traffic there conducted in the name of religion, would he not drive out those desecrators, as he banished the money-changers from the temple?
The apostle James declares that the wisdom from above is ‘first pure.’ Had he encountered those who take the precious name of Jesus upon lips defiled by tobacco, those whose breath and person are contaminated by its foul odor, and who pollute the air of heaven and force all about them to inhale the poison,—had the apostle come in contact with a practice so opposed to the purity of the gospel, would he not have denounced it as ‘earthly, sensual, devilish’? Slaves of tobacco, claiming the blessing of entire sanctification, talk of their hope of Heaven; but God’s word plainly declares that ‘there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.’
‘Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. ‘He whose body is the temple of the Holy Spirit will not be enslaved by a pernicious habit. His powers belong to Christ, who has bought him with the price of blood. His property is the Lord’s. How could he be guiltless in squandering this intrusted capital? Professed Christians yearly expend an immense sum upon useless and pernicious indulgences, while souls are perishing for the word of life. God is robbed in tithes and offerings, while they offer upon the altar of, destroying lust more than they give to relieve the poor or for the support of the gospel. If all who profess to be followers of Christ were truly sanctified, every channel of needless expense would be turned into the Lord’s treasury, and Christians would set an example of temperance, self-denial, and self-sacrifice. Then they would be the light of the world.” EGW, SOP, Vol 4, 1884, pp. 302-304.
*The above paragraphs from the SOP Vol 4, 1884 were deleted in GC 1911 being now widely circulated. I compared the two works (1884 & 1911) and concluded EGW original works had been heavily redacted, edited, and massive additions were inserted. The question is did she approved all these mutilations of her original published SOP Vol 4, 1884? You be the better judge.
————–
EG White and the SDA pioneers rejected the trinity doctrine, Sunday sacredness, and other unscriptural teachings. They believed in the One True God and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ and their Holy Spirit. They published this truth in their Fundamental Principles of 1872 and 1889. They have no creed except the Scriptures alone. EG White never changed this Biblical SDA faith. She died in 1915.
————–
I fully appreciate your support and prayers for this Ministry. Thank you so much.
Sincerely in the Blessed Hope.