SDA History - Brinsmead Heresy

"Unfortunately, a few contemporary Adventists are seeking to revive a heresy many today probably

don’t remember—the teachings of Robert Brinsmead during the 1960s, which attempted to marry the doctrine of original sin, as taught by many of the Protestant Reformers, to the classic Adventist doctrine of a perfected final generation hastening the return of Jesus. 

The doctrine of original sin, for those who may not know, is the belief that because of Adam’s sin, all human beings since—with the exception of Christ—have been born sinners.

Brinsmead
In 1955, a 22-year-old Australian farmer by the name of Robert Brinsmead decided to go to Avondale College to study theology.  During his childhood, Brinsmead’s parents had been closely associated with the German Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement.
Brinsmead’s journey away from classic Adventist teachings began with his embrace of the doctrine of original sin, whose roots trace to Saint Augustine of Hippo and the magisterial Protestant Reformers.  

Paxton's Comments on Brinsmead
Anglican scholar Geoffrey Paxton, a theological ally and confidant of Brinsmead during the 1970s, affirms both the pivotal role this doctrine played in Brinsmead’s thinking and its origin from outside Seventh-day Adventist thought.
Paxton later states that “the awareness of original sin caused Brinsmead to reject the whole idea of reaching a state of perfection in order to be ready for the judgment”. However, Paxton writes that “Brinsmead was at this time too steeped in [M.L.] Andreasen’s concept of the final generation to deny that those who live in the ‘time of trouble’ would be altogether without sin”.

1960's
Brinsmead wrote:

The old Awakening emphasis (Brinsmead’s 1960s theology) denied a here-and-now perfectionism, but taught that it would take place by means of the eschatological “final atonement” or “latter rain” experience.

Brinsmead’s 1960s view of perfection gave a new twist to the Biblical, classic Adventist doctrine of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.  According to Brinsmead, the cleansing of the human heart which would accompany the final cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven would take place in the following manner:

Because of imparted and imputed righteousness God performs a miracle and erases all sinful thoughts and emotions within us.  A person will have had to give up every sin for this to be effective and for it to occur.

A modern Adventist historian summarizes as follows Brinsmead’s view of the final perfecting of the saints:

Brinsmead drew an analogy between the soul temple and the ancient tabernacle, with its two apartments.  The holy place he likened to the conscious mind, to be purged of known sin through sanctification.  The most holy place was equated with the subconscious mind, to be cleansed of original sin, and all memory of sin, at the time an individual’s case was decided favorably in the investigative judgment.  It was upon individuals so perfected that the latter rain would fall.

This same historian goes on to write:

In reality Brinsmead’s beliefs were an intellectual counterpart to the Holy Flesh movement of sixty years earlier.  Some of his followers even suggested that those who had been cleansed of sin would be perfected physically as well as spiritually—they would have no more illness, not even a common cold, but were ready for translation.

 

* For those who may not remember, the Holy Flesh doctrine held that in order to be ready for translation, the Christian must experience the eradication of one’s inherited fleshly nature before the second coming, and thus be given fleshly desires which are entirely holy.
Oil and Water
We need to pause a moment and consider the meaning of the word “perfectionism.”  This term can be

confusing for those who have seen it in the writings of Ellen White, where it refers, not to the possibility of sinless living through God’s power here on earth, but to the presumption that one’s feelings could become pure beyond the possibility of error, as well as the claim that belief only—without obedience—is all that is needed for salvation. Too many, however, in modern and contemporary Adventism, have labeled as “perfectionism” what in fact Scripture and the writings of Ellen White teach regarding the expulsion of sin from the Christian life in the earthly experience of sanctification.  
Robert Brinsmead, when speaking negatively of “perfectionism” in the statements cited in this article, is unfortunately referring to the Biblical, classic Adventist doctrine of sinless obedience here on earth, made possible through conversion and daily divine empowerment.  We have seen already that Brinsmead rejected very early in his spiritual journey what he called “here-and-now-perfectionism”—the Biblical, classic Adventist belief confirmed so often in the writings of Ellen White, that Christians through heaven’s power can live sin-free lives.

1970's
 In 1970, in a review of his 1960s theology, Brinsmead noted this tension and how he resolved it:

Herein lay the paradox of Awakening teaching.  To some it was dangerous because it was anti-perfectionistic.  To others it was dangerous because it was perfectionistic. For the first few years, most of those who opposed the Awakening did so because they contended for perfectionism within probationary time.  They chided us for postponing this perfectionism to an eschatological event.  . . . Dr. Edward Heppenstall was the first to clearly and decisively take a new tack.  He said that the Awakening expectation was wrong because God’s people would not experience a condition of sinlessness prior to the second coming of Christ. . . . It will come as a surprise to some, and quite a shock to others, that I now state in the plainest possible language: Dr. Heppenstall was correct on this point.

Thus Brinsmead abandoned Last Generation Theology altogether, fully embracing the “gospel” that would come to be known as the New Theology—original sin, the unfallen human nature of Christ, salvation by justification alone, and the imperfectability of Christian character.  It wouldn’t be his last big change.  A decade later he would abandon the doctrine of the investigative judgment as well, together with the authority of Ellen White in doctrinal matters, the remnant church theology, the Sabbath, and the binding claims of the Ten Commandments. By 1999 he had become an agnostic, with no religion to speak of.

St. Augustine's Influence

 Augustine’s theological development was his personal experience—never a wise determiner of doctrinal convictions. Sexual immorality was the driving force in Augustine’s life and thought, both before and after his acceptance of the Christian message. This factor, together with his immersion in Greek philosophy, formed the basis of Augustine’s doctrine of original sin.

Ezekiel declares: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son” (Eze. 18:20). This could hardly be true if, as the doctrine of original sin teaches, all humans at birth bear the iniquity of their father Adam. The apostle James likewise affirms the chosen nature of human sin when he writes: “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then lust, when it hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin” (James 1:14-15).
Ellen White agrees:

There are thoughts and feelings suggested and aroused by Satan that annoy even the best of men; but if they are not cherished, if they are repulsed as hateful, the soul is not contaminated with guilt and no other is defiled by their influence.

Romans chapter 5, often used to support the original sin doctrine, actually argues against it, when the apostle Paul states that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). In other words, death has passed upon all humanity because all have followed Adam’s example in sin, not merely because Adam sinned.

Some will also point us to Psalm 58:2, which states: “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” But notice carefully that this verse speaks only of the wicked, not of all humanity. This verse is simply telling us that those brought into the world without the fear of God begin their downward journey immediately.

According to the inspired pen, sin—like righteousness—is a choice. Neither Scripture nor Ellen White teach that sin is an involuntary state received at birth, or that our inherited fallen natures constitute sin apart from our choice to yield to them. The doctrine of original sin, as we have seen, traces its roots not to the Bible, but to the peculiar cocktail of pagan and Christian beliefs developed in the thinking and experience of Saint Augustine. Robert Brinsmead’s embrace of this teaching, and his attempt to combine it with the Bible-based, classic Adventist construct known as Last Generation Theology, formed the basis of the so-called “Awakening” heresy which he agitated in the church during the 1960s. Starting off “on the wrong foot,” as the saying goes, his journey wasn’t likely to end well.

The writings of Ellen White are explicitly clear that before Christians at the end of time receive the seal of the living God and experience the outpouring of the Latter Rain of the Holy Spirit, all sin will have been purged from their lives through conversion and sanctification. 

Those who come up to every point and stand every test, and overcome, be the price what it may, have heeded the counsel of the True Witness, and they will receive the latter rain, and thus be fitted for translation.

The refreshing or power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us, as the early rain fell upon the disciples upon the day of Pentecost.

 

In other statements she writes of those who think the Latter Rain will make up for a lack in their experience not filled before that time, and how this will be a terrible mistake on their part:

Those who receive the seal of the living God and are protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully. 

I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful and were looking to the time of “refreshing” and the “latter rain” to fit them to stand in the day of the Lord and to live in His sight. O, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God. . . . I saw that none could share the “refreshing” unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action.

 

Note such phrases as “every defilement,” “all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” “without spot,” and “reflect the image of Jesus fully”—all cited as conditions to be achieved by the Christian through God’s power before the sealing and Latter Rain take place. No hint is found in any of these statements, or any others, of some further cleansing from sin yet to be accomplished through the actual sealing itself. 

In other words, the perfect reflection of the image of Christ by the saints prior to probation’s close does not require the absence of a fallen nature, whose divinely-empowered subduing was continually necessary for the human Christ just as it is for the sanctified Christian. Just as Jesus was constantly required to claim the Spirit’s power to resist His inherited fallen nature and live a victorious life, so the saints who will live till Jesus’ coming will be required, through the same grace and power available to their Lord, to vanquish the urges of the flesh and live the same stainless, unsoiled life of purity as did their Savior."
AdVindicate

Where that Slippery Slope Led Robert Daniel "Bob" Brinsmead (born 9 August 1933, in Victoria, Australia)
"According to Larry Pahl, "The name of Robert D. Brinsmead was once capable of evoking strong emotion and division in the Adventist circles brave and informed enough to discuss his controversial ideas." His lessened influenced is seen in the writings of the Standish brothers, "In the 1980s it is difficult to believe the emotive reaction which the name Brinsmead conjured up in the minds of the majority of Seventh-day Adventists in Australia two decades earlier." His influence was described as "The Brinsmead Agitation" by the Biblical Research Committee, a precursor to the Biblical Research Institute.
In the late 1970s Brinsmead began to be influenced by Desmond Ford, and systematically re-

examine, and gave up many of his prior beliefs.
In the early 1980s Brinsmead's theology shifted to liberal Christianity, and he now rejected the Adventist belief in the Sabbath. He abandoned his belief in many orthodox Christian teachings, including justification through faith in Christ and the divinity of Christ, seeing God's interaction with mankind as not being limited to just the history of the Bible, but as an ongoing and continuous interaction with humanity towards a positive future.
In the 1990s he turned from his theological focus, and shifted his attention to politics and his tropical fruit theme park, Tropical Fruit World." wikipedia