This Great Controversy SIMPLIFIED

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,...And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 

Revelation 12:7,9

“All humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and Satan regarding 

--the character of God, 

--His law, 

--and His sovereignty over the universe. 

This conflict originated in heaven when a created being, endowed with freedom of choice, in self-exaltation became Satan, God’s adversary, and led into rebellion a portion of the angels. 

*He introduced the spirit of rebellion into this world when he led

Adam and Eve into sin. 

*This human sin resulted in the distortion of the image of God in humanity, the disordering of the created world, and its eventual devastation at the time of the worldwide flood. 

Observed by the whole creation, this world became the arena of the universal conflict, out of which the God of love will ultimately be vindicated. 

To assist His people in this controversy, Christ sends the Holy Spirit and the loyal angels to guide, protect, and sustain them in the way of salvation.”

Seventh-day AdventistFundamentalBeliefs

What Exactly Was the First Sin?

"We catch a glimpse of Satan’s fall in the following passage, prophetically directed at the King of Tyre, but in this portion, apparently meant to include someone apart from humanity (specifically referred to as a cherub) who had been in the garden of Eden, the prophecy turns into a description of an angel, namely Lucifer:
You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. (Ezekiel 28:14–15)

Q: What was the first sin? 

A: We learn about it and Satan’s fall from Isaiah 14:12–15:
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. (NKJV)

It is obvious from the text that Satan’s sin was pride." 

AIG

Inverse Relationship of Christ and Lucifer

"The course of Christ from the time he consented to step out from His position of equality with God, His life on earth of sorrow and suffering, and His vicarious death, blasted and shattered all the misrepresentations and false charges Satan had uttered against the government of God, to the everlasting discomfiture of the rebel leader and all his hosts. 

Here was a display of love and mercy, pity and compassion, sacrifice and sorrow, long-suffering and forgiveness, which had in it no element of selfishness. It was not for the self-exaltation and self aggrandizement of God and Christ that this was done. The main factor in this wonderful work was the rescue of man from ruin, and his everlasting exaltation in glory.

But chiefly is its object seen in the lifting of man from the gates of death to honor, glory, and everlasting life in the kingdom of heaven. In the light of these facts, an expression used by Paul in Col.1:20, becomes beautifully clear: "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." 

Q: What can be meant by the words "to reconcile things in heaven"? 

Q: Are there things there which need to be reconciled? 

The reconciling of things in the earth can be easily understood; for here rebellion is going on from the ranks of which men are to be reclaimed and reconciled to him by the grace of God. 

No such state of things exists in heaven, or, what is doubtless referred to, the heavenly worlds; and yet there may be a reconciliation to be effected there. 

Throughout the heavenly dominions, the rebellion of Satan is, of course, known, and his complaints and charges well understood. 

He had influence enough to draw a multitude of the heavenly host with him in his disaffection. 

*How far his influence may have extended to other beings in other worlds, - not to create rebellion, but to excite some query, or generate in some minds a feeling of uncertainty, - we may now know. 

But something of this kind might not be outside the range of possibilities. 

But the work of Christ, as the Redeemer of men, sweeps away all doubts, dispels all uncertainties." 

Uriah Smith

Glimpse into the Root of the Rebellion

"The root of the controversy is found in the rebellion of Satan against the son of God. 

This father of lies charged upon the government of God, that it was

based in selfishness and oppression; that God and Christ acted only for their own exaltation and aggrandizement, at the expense of the liberty and happiness of their creatures; and that injustice and partiality, instead of righteousness and truth, were the habitation of their throne. 

---All this is revealed in the temptation by which our first parents were seduced into sin. Most adroitly Satan insinuated this idea into the mind of Eve, when he said: "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." Gen.3:4,5. 

The argument he thus virtually submitted to Eve was this: "God and Christ are withholding from you the good you ought to have.

They are keeping you from a position you ought to gain. They fear others will become equal with themselves, and they are determined to prevent it. They are selfish, unjust, and partial. Here is a tree, the fruit of which will lift you out of this degraded and slavish condition. They say, therefore,  that if you eat of it, you shall die. But in this they lie; for ye shall not surely die." 

---This was the same principle that Satan had before this cherished in his own behalf to his own ruin. 

He conceived the strange idea that he was kept in an inferior position to that which he was adapted to fill. 

And fostering this conceit, he gave way to the pride from which it sprung, and aspired to sit with the Most High upon his throne. 

Speaking of Satan, the prophet testifies: "For thou hast said in thine

heart, I will ascend into heaven [or, I will be exalted in heaven], I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Isa.14:13,14. 

That this heaven-daring aspiration was the channel through which evil came into the universe, and caused Satan to fall, Paul, in 1Tim.3:6, affirms where he calls pride the "condemnation" of the Devil." 

Uriah Smith

God and man

"In creating man in His own image, 

--God purposed to reveal the glory of His character of love through the human race. 

--God and man were to be partners in a plan to secure the universe against apostasy. 

--When Satan fell, man was to be God’s instrument for the devil’s overthrow.

From the time of the first advent of the Savior, all history has been waiting for the body of Jesus to give that full and final revelation of the love, mercy, and grace of Christ.

Nothing but this revelation of Jesus through the church can fulfill the divine plan. 1 Corinthians 12:27 ...the body of Christ." 

RB

Free Moral Agent vs. Mere Automaton

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, 

Q: How long halt ye between two opinions? 

if the LORD be God, follow Him: 

but if Baal, then follow him. 

the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18:21

"God placed man under law, as an indispensable condition of his very existence.

He was a subject of the divine government, and there can be no government without law.
--God might have created man without the power to transgress His law; 

--He might have withheld the hand of Adam from touching the forbidden fruit; 

--but in that case man would have been, 

not a free moral agent, 

but a mere automaton." 

E.G.W.

Lucifer's state of the world

A well written article from F7 by Daniel Bacchiocchi

"One may argue that Lucifer attempted to rationalize celestial injustice through his prism of ideology. 

Though not a deity, he was a superior being. 

From his perspective, since he had commanded companies of angels and was of exceeding intellect, he was capable of participating in a divine conference on the creation of humanity. 

He had the mechanics needed to serve at a celestial level. 

He should have been afforded a role and purpose in alignment with his conscientiousness. 

---In making his intellect and reasoning the barometer of justice and fairness, Lucifer sought to reform the injustice in God’s government.

At the conclusion of the conflict, when Lucifer and his followers

were defeated and driven from Heaven, he realized that his purity and glory were lost. Heaven could ill afford to reinstate the originator of sin, as the seeds of rebellion were planted within him. Thus, “their sin—their hatred, their envy and jealousy—had been so great that God could not blot it out.” (EW 146.1).

We all know the story does not end there. Having sealed his fate, Lucifer, once the covering cherub, reversed his repentant spirit and directed “malice and hatred” towards God’s government and ultimately attacked His creation and their Redeemer.

God had instructed man to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We were to advance upon and occupy the earth. He would preserve humanity in their quest to populate earth, but man instead leaned on humanism and chose safety in numbers.… man chose to trust in his capacity, strength, and enlightenment.

In recent centuries, the advancement of humanism within Judeo-Christian society has brought about the rejection of God, without immediately incurring the associated desolation. 

 That is, where science and society once advanced to understand and glorify God, it now advances to show that we do not need a God. 

*But the moral decay and chaos that must inevitably follow is delayed because of prior foundational Spiritual fruits.

Atheism and agnosticism have begun an exponential rise. In 1976,

91% of the US population identified as Christian, by 2022 only 64% did. Humanism is replacing Theism, and it undermines nearly every part of society.

But with the greater wealth that is spread more evenly throughout the world, human society has grown more self-sufficient, more focused on gain and physical comfort, more cold, more selfish, and self-focused.

As on the plains of Shinar, Satan’s ability to implant envy, jealousy and hatred within contemporary hearts and minds has created a firm ideological prism that impinges on our daily lives in compounding ways. 

*With the aid of 24/7 360-degree technology, the assault on humanity in general, and Christianity in particular, is more ferocious than ever. Today, it may seem that religion has very nearly been banished from the ivory tower.

Yet, we cannot conform God’s tenets to our ideology. 

We must recognize our finite minds are not positioned to fully understand supernatural design. Just because one wishes it so, humanistic ideology does not transform false beliefs into truths, any more than the atheistic ideology of the scientific world can make evolution a reality. Truth stands as its own.

The spawn of Communism, Socialism, Totalitarianism, Critical Race Theory, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, LGBTQ+, Gender Fluidity, Evolution, Environmentalism, are all sub-religions of Humanism.

Like a Trojan horse, religious, social, and political ecumenism has been embraced as the gift to unite the world. With hubris, theologians and church leaders are emboldened to culturally condition Biblical truths.

The pursuit of equal outcomes is not spiritual. The Spirit of Prophecy clearly dispels the concept of celestial equity, in the past, present or future.

"If you have not laid aside your envy, your jealousies, your hatred one against another, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You would only carry the same disposition with you; but there will be nothing of this character in the world to come. Nothing will exist there but love and joy and harmony. Some will have brighter crowns than others, but there will be no jealous thoughts in any heart among the redeemed. Each one will be perfectly satisfied, for all will be rewarded according to their work" [emphasis added].—The Signs of the Times, February 10, 1888. 

History has taught us that humanism advances at the cost of humanity. 

Communism, Socialism, Fascism and Totalitarianism have all failed, with a catastrophic death toll.

Scientists working feverishly to prove that life can emerge from matter have found it impossible to explain the complex genetic code and mathematical order that is required to operate a single cell, let alone to create one.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few (Mat. 9:37). Could it be because they are preoccupied with pursuing social justice?" Daniel Bacchiocchi/Fulcrum 7

GERMANY in this Great Controversy

As the Heart of the Reformation the German people became special targets for Lucifer's wrath/abuse as he moved to take them as far from that path as he could. 

It would seem his goal was to humiliate, punish and destroy the German people.

After bloodying them with the Thirty Years War (bloodiest European War before WW1) he moved to take away their heart of the Reformation and give them a heart of Hitler by the 1930's.

It was where Neitzsche Freud and Marx put down roots and where Darwinian Macro-Evolutionary thinking and Long Age Chronology first took root at the national level.

"The term Neology, or Rationalism, has been applied to the actual

creed of a large portion of the members of the German church, who profess a nominal adhesion to the Augsburgh Confession of Faith, while they reject its fundamental principles, and maintain tenets which the Saxon reformers would have regarded as "damnable heresies." (2 Pet. 2:1). 

Like many other forms of error, Neology did not make its first appearance among the common people. In all countries, the simple faith of this class in the book of God, and their reverence for its instructions, have made them the well known conservators of truth. It is seldom that their course of life is such as to drive them to the necessity of impugning the authority of the Scriptures. 

Neology had its birth among those, .... among professors of theology, whose rank, learning, and talents gave them a controlling influence over the opinions of the religious world.

 

---An event now burst upon the world, which was destined to give public sentiment an impulse which it had not felt since the fall of the Roman empire. 

It was not a reformation, but a revolution. 

---A convulsion commenced in France, which tested the stability of every institution, creed and opinion known to the civilized world. That its final results were not unmingled evil, can never be ascribed to the virtues of those who directed the storm. 

  

The actors in this drama were equally impatient of political and religious control. Making no distinction between the corruptions of the Papacy and the religion of the Savior, they assailed both
with the same blind fury. Those who could wield the pen, deluged Europe with pamphlets and volumes filled with the bitterest attacks on Divine Revelation. The unsparing boldness of French skeptics was communicated to "kindred spirits" among the more cautious Germans. 

 

Such was the origin of Neology. Its form has varied with the changing breath of public opinion and the exigency of circumstances. 

At one period, it boldly took the field against evangelical religion, and hardly sought a disguise. In the writings of Fichte and Forberg, and some others of the transcendental school, it would have received the name of atheism, in our land. 

In the hands of other artists, it has assumed the shape of the Pantheism of the Greek philosophers. 

Now it is "liberal Christianity," or "Rationalism"-again it is marked by an icy indifference to all revelation.

 

***The extent to which neological writers

succeeded in destroying the belief of the German church in the inspiration of the Scriptures cannot be viewed without the deepest pain. 

***It must be left to eternity to declare the consequences in their full extent." (wow...that was published in March of 1844---and think what it was like in/for Germany by 1944....amazing observation by Mr. Whiting)

N.N. Whiting

Paul's WARNING on This Great Controversy.....

In this Great Controversy, struggle, between God and His opponent playing out here on the Space Fabric of Time....ensconced between the 2 decrees from the Throne of God ("Let there be Light" to "It Is Done") .....whether you call God's opponent satan, the devil, lucifer, diablo, beezlebub, that old serpent or the prince of darkness---he once stood before the throne of the Living God and thought to himself "i can take him on". ....he is much more powerful, smarter and wily than us humans.

This is why Paul warns us For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

IN the NEWS - Equation of The Great Reset vs. Free Will

FREE WILL Still Required till the End---(in the forehead means they believe it and in their hands means they go along just to buy and sell)---And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: Revelation 13:16

These people are Deranged.....and WHAT IF the Beast Power Climbs onboard this? 

Q: NOW is it Likely to come to fruition? 

A: Probably not because that would destroy Free Will as we near the End of this Great Controversy between God & His opponent played out here on the space fabric of time. Free Will is a Required Component in this Great Controversy. 

---But the fact that people on the planet, with access to power and wealth, are even thinking these things is SCARY.

"Dr. Harari about hackable humans-

The twin revolutions of infotech and biotech are now giving politicians the means to create heaven or hell, but the philosophers are having trouble conceptualizing what the new heaven and the new hell will look like.

That equation is B x C x D = AHH — which means Biological knowledge multiplied by Computing power multiplied by Data equals the Ability to Hack Humans.

 

.....Now globalism doesn’t mean establishing a global government, abandoning all national traditions, or opening the border to unlimited immigration. Rather, globalism means a commitment to some global rules."

 

In November, 2021, a Pentagon-sponsored RAND report detailed how the US Defense and Intelligence communities are on the cusp of ushering in a new era of transhumanism by funding research into gene editing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Bodies to enhance human performance.

The technological potentials of this controversial transhumanist research include potentially “adding reptilian genes that provide the ability to see in infrared,” and “making humans stronger, more intelligent, or more adapted to extreme environments,” according to the report — “Technological Approaches to Human Performance Enhancement.”

 

RAND says the modalities for human performance enhancement (HPE) can be grouped into three principal categories:

1. Gene editing
2. Applications of artificial intelligence (AI)
3. Networked technologies that are wearable or even implantable (the so-called Internet of Bodies [IoB])." TheSociable
   

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: SUMMARY-While Awaiting the Bridegroom.....

 "It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding

the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. 

 

At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth. ... 

 

Those who wait for the Bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, 'Behold your God.' (Is.40:9).

 

The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. 

 

The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. The light of the Sun of Righteousness is to shine forth in good works—in words of truth and deeds of holiness." 

E.G.W.

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: Questions within this Great Controversy

"Again, looking at the Big Picture, the Great Controversy Theme

explains why no one on earth would know what really happened on the cross unless "disciples" made it known. 

 

Q: Would these "disciples" be believed if the "good news" they talked about did not make a difference in their lives, when compared with others who also had strong religious beliefs in their "gods"? 

 

Q: Would anyone really have given Paul any attention if he had not been convinced that the crucified Jesus had indeed come from heaven with God's good news—and that it made a difference? (For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ... Rom. 1:16)."

Herbert Douglass

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: Why the Great Controversy Rages Past the Cross

"But the facts are that "the angels did not even then understand all

that was involved in the great controversy. 

---The principles at stake were to be more fully revealed. 

---And for the sake of man, Satan's existence must be continued. 

---Man as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. 

---He must choose whom he will serve."

God, of course, has His plan. 

Before Jesus ascended He laid out the job description for the Christian Church. John recorded part of our Lord's incredibly moving prayer to his Heavenly Father, wherein Jesus said: "As you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (17:18; 20:21)

Obviously, 

this requires a second reading on our knees." 

Herbert Douglass

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: Our Deepest Impulse in The Great Controversy Should Be.....

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Psalm 150:6

"When we understand that the Christian's highest privilege is to join

with Jesus in vindicating the character of God throughout the universe, our whole religious direction is turned upside down.

Or is that, right side up? 

 

Instead of focusing on self-centered reward and need for constant approval, the deepest impulse becomes one of making the vindication of God supreme. 

Such is the gratitude of agape love in response to His magnificent love toward us." 

Herbert Douglass

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: The Burden of Every Bible Passage

 "The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other

in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. 

 

From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, 'They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads' (Revelation 22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme,—man's uplifting,—the power of God, 'which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' (1 Corinthians 15:57). 

 

--He who grasps this thought has before him an infinite field for study. 

--He has the key that will unlock to him the whole treasure house of God's word."

E.G.W.

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: Learn of this Grand Central Theme

 "The Bible is its own expositor. 

Scripture is to be compared with scripture. 

 The student should learn 

---to view the word as a whole, 

---and to see the relation of its parts. 

He should gain a knowledge of its grand central theme, of God's original purpose for the world, of the rise of the great controversy, and of the work of redemption. 

---He should understand the nature of the two principles that are contending for supremacy, and should learn to trace their working through the records of history and prophecy, to the great consummation. 

---He should see how this controversy enters into every phase of human experience; how in every act of life he himself reveals the one or the other of the two antagonistic motives; and how, whether he will or not, he is even now deciding upon which side of the controversy he will be found."

E.G.W.

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: Lucifer's Lust for his own Perverted Form of "Freedom"

"Lucifer (later Satan) was clever and deceitful in charging God as

being ultimately self-centered in wanting everything done His way with no "freedom" for independent thinking. 

---Because God didn't grant this new kind of "freedom," Satan pictured God as "severe and unforgiving"—a "being whose chief attribute is stern justice,—one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor."

-*-*-The highest purpose for Jesus to leave heaven and come to earth is to tell the truth about God. 

In doing so, He shut Satan's mouth, vindicating the eternal fairness, justice, and mercies of God. Watching Calvary, the universe of unfallen beings rejoiced with our Lord's cry, "It is finished" (John 19:30)— "Satan was defeated. Not until Christ's death was the character of Satan clearly revealed to the angels or to the unfallen worlds." Herbert Douglass

GREAT CONTROVERSY SERIES: The Great Controversy SIMPLIFIED

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 1 Corinthians 4:9

"The Great controversy that the Bible describes is far different than

Hollywood's portrayal of a galactic clash of heavenly warriors with their shining swords. 

The great controversy is over the question of who can best govern the universe—and who presents the best principles by which created intelligences can find hope, health, happiness, and heavenly assurance, while living on a planet still to be sanitized from all the evil for which Satan is responsible. " Herbert Douglass

The Loyalists

"God is holding back the seven last plagues, waiting for his last-

generation loyalists to be worthy of His seal of approval (Revelation 7:1-4).

Yes, God is waiting to give Latter Rain Power to loyalists who would rightly use His power. They are people God will stamp with His signature, seal with His endorsement, because His people can be trusted—because they have let His Spirit mature their characters.

John describes these last-day loyalists as those "having His Father's name written on their foreheads" (Revelation 14:1). They have "follow[ed] the Lamb [Jesus] wherever He goes ... and in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God" (vss. 4, 5). John, in vision, sees this group before the throne of God and "they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads" (22:4).

Yes, these are the same last-generation loyalists that Peter foresees:

"Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, There, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless" (2:11-14)."

Herbert Douglass

Endowed with the Ability to say No

....choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: 

but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:15

 

"The issue is always planted in God's created soil of Freedom. 

Before love, there had to be freedom. 

All created intelligences, beginning with the angels and extending throughout the inhabited worlds, were endowed with freedom—the freedom even to say No to God's plan for them. 

 

In other words, responsibility (ability-to-respond) was the actionable word—freedom to respond to their Creator, either positively of negatively.  

 

Love is an attribute found only in the larger embracing air of freedom. 

 

Throughout the Biblical story, God was trying to make clear what He planned to accomplish with His salvation plan, as He manifested His fairness, love, and trustworthiness through His dealing with, first, the Israelites and eventually, in the person of Jesus Christ." 

Herbert Douglass