In this issue:
Islam and False Christianity
David Clayton
Recently, in browsing the internet, I came across some debates
between Muslims and Christians. I watched a few of these clips and was
struck by the fact that all of the Muslim arguments against Christianity
seemed to center on two main objections.
1. Jesus in not God., neither is He His only-begotten Son.
2. Man is not born a sinner
Interestingly, Muslims are quite happy to accept that Jesus is God’s “son” in a limited sense, since they acknowledge that we also are sons of God. However, they are totally opposed to the idea that He is divine in any unique way. They regard Him as being a great prophet in the same vein as Abraham or Mohammed. The idea that He was divinity, or that He was the only-begotten Son of God is fiercely rejected by them. I found it interesting that while they were happy to quote the Bible where it stated that Jesus was God’s Son, they carefully avoided the verses which say that Jesus is the “only begotten son of God.”
I was especially struck by these two points because they are the two points on which our ministry has been most focused over the past few years. The more I have examined these issues, the more I have become persuaded that the most vital aspects of Christianity revolve around these two points. It has become evident that these are two areas in which Satan is most anxious that the world should not know the truth and conversely, they are the two areas in which Christians need a proper understanding more than any other.
These two are among the most volatile issues in Christendom. They have caused heated debates all through the centuries and are still causing friction and separation today. If we think carefully about the issues, however, we will recognize that both these points inevitably go together. Jesus came to be the Saviour of mankind – to save man from his sins. In order to accomplish this, He had to be a divine Being, He had to be more than a mere human. However, if it is denied that man is a sinner, then what need is there of a Saviour? What need is there for the coming of a divine Christ? This is why those who deny the inherent sinful state of man regard Jesus as being merely a great prophet, or at best, an outstanding example of the upright life required by God.
Does man need a Saviour?
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Mat 1:21)
Jesus’ mission was clearly defined before He was born, . He was coming to save His people from their sins. It was only recently that I came to realize how unique and revolutionary this concept is. As far as I know, there is no religion other than Christianity which teaches that mankind needs a Saviour from sin. When we think of how deeply sin is integrated into the experience of humanity, this seems an amazing thing, but we will see in a moment why this is so.
What does the Bible mean when it states that Christ would save His people from their sins? Christians generally agree that there are three aspects to sin from which man needs deliverance:
1. Man needs deliverance from the penalty of sin.
2. Man needs deliverance from the power of sin.
3. Man needs deliverance from the presence of sin.
Of course, nearly all religions agree with the third point. All acknowledge that there is sin in the world and that God will someday deliver His people from the presence of this sin, either by removing the sinful environment, or else by removing His people from the environment of sin.
However, Christendom is very confused on the first point, the issue of the penalty attached to sin, and the guilt which arises from sin. This confusion has resulted in some of the most outrageous teachings such as the teaching of an eternally burning hell, and of course, the distortions of God’s character which follow such beliefs. This also has led to confused ideas as to how Jesus saves man from sin and what it means that we are saved from sin. This confusion and the related unscriptural teachings is what has given Islam the greatest leverage. Because of the falsehoods taught by popular Christianity, Muslims are able to use our own book, the Bible, to demonstrate that our ideas are unreasonable, confusing, slanderous of God, and ultimately, false.
As popular Christianity expresses it, guilt arises when we commit acts of sin and somehow, this guilt, this record of sin cannot be simply forgiven or cancelled by God. The sinner needs to be punished because of his sins regardless of whether he is sorry for those sins or not, and the only way that this demand of justice can be satisfied is if the sinner dies, or, if someone dies in his place. This raises some questions for which there are no satisfactory answers: Why doesn’t God simply forgive His children if they repent of their sins? Why does He demand death? What kind of justice will accept the death of one person as payment for the crime of another? These are questions which arise from the popular Christian concept that Jesus died to pay for the penalty of sin (pay whom?), and this is the area, as I said, in which Islam finds much strength in criticizing Christianity.
On the second point, Christians generally agree that the inclination to do sin (the power of sin) is so strong in human beings that there is need of a divine power to work with us, or else we cannot resist the power of sin. This is very clearly taught in the Bible and here, Islam has no room to get around the truth. They do not agree that we are in ourselves incapable or righteousness so they are great enemies of the apostle Paul who they view as the one who originated the idea that man is incapable in himself of doing good. However, Jesus obviously taught this truth as forcefully as Paul ever did. His teaching was, “without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Muslims argue that God does not need to see somebody die before He can forgive sins and in this they have a point. (For an understanding of why Jesus really had to die, send for our DVD entitled, “Why Jesus had to Die.”). Popular Christianity does not provide a reasonable answer to that point. However, they also insist that all of us are capable of living good and upright, sinless lives, from the moment we are born. They categorically deny that man is born in a sinful state and insist that we come into the world upright and pure.
It is easy to see why Muslims cannot accept that humanity needs a Saviour from sin. Sin, as far as they are concerned is not really an issue. They see the real problem as being man’s decision, man’s choice to either do good or evil. They believe that man is already fully capable of doing what is righteous and good and needs no Saviour to enable him to do this, and of course, they believe that if men simply choose the way of Islam, then sin will be eradicated from the world. They believe that obedience to the rules of Islam is the answer to the sin which exists in humanity. This is the underlying reason for the Muslim emphasis that the Islam religion should be the basis for all governments. They believe that this is all it takes for the world to be perfect. So, with this kind of thinking, what need is there of a Saviour, far less a divine Saviour? Islam categorically rejects the idea that Jesus is our Saviour, the begotten Son of God.
What is astonishing is that there are Christians who agree with Islam that man is born good, and fully capable of choosing to do what is good. Their concept implies that all we need is a Saviour from the guilt and penalty of sin, but that we are born with the power to overcome sin and really do not need a Saviour in that area.
What are the practical consequences of such a belief? Jesus is seen as a person who got involved with the history of the world two thousand years ago when He did what was necessary to cancel the penalty required for the sins of mankind. He did this by being brutally sacrificed on the cross. He lives today, billions of light years away in a place called heaven, where He continues to work to obtain forgiveness for our sins whenever we commit them. However, this is all that Jesus is doing. There is no practical, literal interaction between Him and His people, for there is no need of this. We already are born with all that we need in order to live a life which is pleasing to God, so what Jesus is doing is working on forgiveness, not on obtaining our victory over sin. One brother expressed it this way, “Jesus says, ‘you see that I have given you a clean sheet, now you go and keep it clean.’”
The Son of God
It was interesting to see, as I watched some of these debates between Christians and Muslims, that there was one challenge which the Muslims consistently threw out that the Christians were unable to meet. The challenge was, “give me one verse, just one verse where Jesus clearly states that He is God!” The efforts of the Christian challengers to supply this verse were pitiful. They beat around the bush, but of course, no such verse was forthcoming. The Muslims would then happily point to the verses where Jesus says He is the Son of God and show that this was Jesus’ declaration concerning Himself. The problem was that they then went on to show that we also are sons of God. The conclusion? Jesus was simply a man, just like the rest of us, albeit a great prophet.
My heart burned within me as I watched. Nobody from either side pointed out the Jesus was the only begotten Son of God! The Muslims carefully avoided John 3:16 and the Christians carefully avoided it as well! The Christians did not use that verse because all their efforts were aimed at proving that Jesus was God Himself! All their efforts were aimed at proving that God is a Trinity and that Jesus was a part of this three-in-one entity. Therefore they dared not emphasize or even suggest that He was God’s Son in any literal way. One of them declared that He was God’s “unique” Son, but of course, the implication of this word as Trinitarians use it, is that He played the role of a Son, but He was not really God’s Son in the sense of having been brought forth from God. The Muslims carefully avoided saying He was God’s only begotten, because this would make it plain that He was a divine being, something they categorically deny. One of the fundamentals of their faith is that Allah “ neither begets, nor is begotten .” But at the same time, more than one of these Muslim debaters declared, “I believe every word that Jesus Christ spoke.”
It was somewhat amusing, but tragic to see these two religious groups, diametrically opposed to each other, yet ironically, unified in their opposition to the one great truth which stands above all others: Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God! It is very plain to see that Satan does not mind what religious ideas we hold to as long as we deny the truth the Jesus Christ is God’s begotten Son, a divine Being, truly one of God’s own nature, begotten of the Father from the days of eternity.
The Bible represents the truth that Jesus is God’s Son as a critical truth, vital for us to understand. In fact, the apostle John declares that this truth is one which we need to believe if we are to overcome the world.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:5)
It is therefore not surprising to find this truth under attack from many sides, but as we said, it is extremely surprising to find that one of the strongest attacks against it comes from professing Christians.
One thing which was forcefully impressed on my mind in watching these discussions is the fact that Trinitarian Christianity cannot stand against a religion like Islam, and this is the main reason why all over the world, Islam is making great strides in Christian countries. Their favourite ploy is to attack the Trinity and to show how contrary it is to even the Christian book, the Bible. This is easy to prove and from there, it is easy to promote Islam as the true religion because it emphasizes (as the Bible does), that God is only one Being.
Original Sin
The other point which the Muslims attacked most vigorously, was the doctrine of original sin. To be specific, they ridicule the ideas of inherited guilt and inherent depravity. In other words, they do not believe that man is born guilty because of Adam’s sin, or that he is born incapable of doing what is right. As our regular readers know, we at Restoration Ministries are totally opposed to the unscriptural concept of inherited guilt, but we believe that man is born incapable of living righteously, because this is clearly taught by the Bible, and demonstrated in the lives of all who are not born again. Man is not born guilty, but he is born in a state where he is not fit for heaven and where he is incapable of living righteously. This is why it is absolutely necessary for him to be born again..
On one of these things, Islam believes the truth, on the other, their understanding is false. We do need a Saviour from sin’s power when we are born, but not from sin’s guilt, for we are not born with guilt. However, what Satan has done is to lump both ideas together and in this way, he has presented the option that we either accept both things, or else reject both. Christendom in general has accepted both things and teaches that man is born both guilty, and incapable of good. Islam has rejected both things and believes that man is born upright and good. Therefore Islam believes that we do not need a Saviour, while Christendom believes that we needed a Saviour from Adam’s guilt (as well as our own) as well as to give us power to live righteously.
I should add that there are some Christians, (some of whom believe the truth about God), who hold to a position almost exactly like the Muslims: They believe that man is born fully capable of living righteously and that our main problem is that we choose to accumulate guilt by wrong behaviour.
The Muslim arguments against inherited guilt are interesting and compelling. How can God hold one person guilty for what another person did? This is their question. Adam sinned and so God said, “you must leave the garden and you must toil for your bread for the rest of your life. The woman must feel pain when she has children as punishment for your sin.” But then this is not enough, God goes on to say, “you will live this life in sorrow and then you will die, and after this you will live in torment for all eternity.” But this is still not enough, God says, “I will pass on your guilt to your children as well, throughout all your generations.” They ask, “is this the justice of the Christian God? Does this make sense?” These are fair objections. The concept of inherited guilt does not present a good picture of God.
The other point which they make is, why should God need to kill His own Son before He can forgive the sins of men? If a person does us wrong, he says, “I am sorry,” and we forgive him. Why does God not do the same? Why does He need to see His Son die before He can forgive?
These are reasonable arguments and indeed they are the great arguments against popular Christian theology. But in truth, they are not arguments against the teachings of the Bible, rather they are arguments against the false ideas promoted by tradition in the name of Christianity. The Bible does not teach that man is born guilty of Adam’s sin. This is a false idea. Guilt is not transferable from one person to another. The only person who is guilty of sin is the one who commits that sin. In opposing this doctrine, Muslims are perfectly right and they are in harmony with the Bible on this. The principle of God’s character is expressed in this verse:
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: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (Ezek 18:20)
God does not hold one person responsible for the sins of another.
However, the Bible does teach that the consequences of one person’s sins are passed on to others. This is not a judicial sentence, not something imposed by God. This is a rule of nature, a natural law of life. This is not only taught by the Bible, but is clearly demonstrated in all aspects of life. Children are born deformed, with all kinds of sicknesses and weaknesses, not because of any personal fault of their own, but because of what they inherited from their parents or foreparents. This rule of consequence exists in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical. This is the reason why human beings are born incapable of righteousness. When Adam sinned he made a choice on behalf of the entire human race. He brought elements into the human life stream which made all his children morally incapable. Humanity became incapable of righteousness.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Rom 5:19)
This is the reality which Muslims reject and amazingly there are some professing Christians who are in full harmony with Islam in believing and teaching that fallen man is fully capable of righteous deeds as soon as he is born! They apparently believe, like Islam, that the introduction of sin into the world only affected humanity on a physical level and that spiritually and morally, mankind is still fully capable of righteousness. This absolutely false concept is the foundation of the teaching that all man needs is a Saviour from his circumstances, and not from himself.
Emphasis on Law
This is also the reason why there is such a focus on law and rules in religions such as Islam and Judaism and why the law is more exalted than Christ among Christians who hold to this idea. The belief is that all man needs is moral instructions, all he needs is a knowledge of what is right and wrong. He needs nothing more, for he is already capable of obedience. Why would there be the need to emphasize a Saviour in such a case? This is a truly horrifying reality, but it is a fact that this view exists among many Seventh-day Adventists, both mainstream as well as independents. Many are more obsessed with what they eat, what they wear, some new rule or doctrine, how they keep the Sabbath, than with Jesus. This is the terrible truth and this misconception is manifested in the abundance of law-related errors which abound in Adventism, such as feast-keeping, New Moon Sabbaths, Holy Names etc. The root reason for this kind of focus is the fact that these people do not recognize the truth about themselves and their need of a present Saviour from themselves. They believe that all they need is moral instruction and they will be able to do the rest themselves. They labour under the misconception that all they need is more instruction, more rules and that this is the key to conquering sin and becoming perfect!
This is the reason why the conflict between religions tends to center around which rules are obeyed. Muslims say, “our rules are better than yours,” Adventists say, “our rules are better than yours, and particularly the Sabbath.” If you don’t obey this rule you are in trouble!” But rules never saved anybody and never will. What we need is to be born again, what man needs is the infusion of new life into his being, to possess a new nature and ultimately, when he obtains this, the rules will fall into place. God says that He Himself will write His laws on the minds and hearts of those who are born again. We don’t need to worry about the rules, what we need is Christ.
The Jews look for a Messiah who will set them up in the place of universal dominance, a deliverer who will subjugate all nations beneath their feet. Islam looks for the establishment of the Muslim religion in every corner of the planet, this is their ideal of perfection. Neither religion recognizes a problem with them, the people, they do not see that there is need of divine help in overcoming their personal weaknesses and depravity. Therefore, Jesus, as a Saviour from sin means nothing to them.
But what can be said of Christians who hold to a position very similar to these false religions? These Christians will acknowledge, yes, we do need a Saviour from sin’s guilt. We have done wrong and, (they say) a price must be paid to cancel the punishment due for that wrong. Jesus supplied this price and so, that was basically all that was needed. Now they wait like Jews and Muslims for a Messiah who will restore physical utopia, but the reality of man’s need of a transformed nature is ignored and even denied and so, the result is a form of godliness without the power, a self-righteous deception where carnal behaviour is accepted as righteousness, where they strive in vain in human strength to bring a “clean thing out of an unclean.”.
Yet the Bible, and experience demonstrate that this condition of inherent moral depravity does exist in all men, by nature. This condition could only be solved by the reintroduction of something into the human life stream which would enable us to do good. This is why we needed a Saviour and this is why this Saviour had to be more than a human being. He had to possess in Himself this element which we did not possess, He had to have the quality of righteousness, which we did not possess. He had to bring this into the human race so that He could impart it to those of us who will accept Him.
Righteous by Nature
But how did Jesus, a human being, obtain this quality of righteousness? How did He happen to possess something which no other human being possessed? How did He qualify as our Saviour, One who could restore righteousness to the human race? Where and how did He obtain this missing ingredient? It is popularly believed by many Adventists, (independents and otherwise), that Jesus obtained righteousness by His behaviour. As He grew up and lived His life as a human being He became righteous! This is an amazing conclusion but I have found that a significant number do hold to this false idea. This conclusion is based on the belief that righteousness is accumulated behaviour, the result of consistent actions. This is the basis for the belief that righteousness is obtained by works.
However, the Bible declares in unmistakable language that only God is good, only God is holy (Matt. 19:17; Rev. 15:4). God alone is righteous. God is righteous because He is righteous. It is the way He is by nature. God does righteous deeds because He is righteous, it was not because He did righteous deeds that He became righteous. The point is, righteousness is not a collection of actions, not accumulated behaviour, righteousness is a state of being, it is a quality of nature.
This is where it becomes absolutely critical that we grasp the truth that Jesus is the begotten Son of God! The only place in the universe where true righteousness can be found is in divinity. God alone is good. (Matt. 19:17). Jesus possessed goodness in Himself from the moment He was born, He was inherently good by nature because He is the Son of God. The angel who announced His birth to Mary referred to Him as “that holy thing.”
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.. (Luke 1:35)
One misguided, retired Adventist minister, leader of an independent ministry, declared that this statement was prophetic when it described Jesus as “that holy thing.” His conclusion was that Jesus was not holy at birth, but that as He grew up and lived a blameless life, He became righteous by His behaviour! Amazing!
But Jesus is of the same nature as God, since He is His begotten Son, born from His being. When He became a man, He left His divine glory behind, He laid His divine powers aside, but He did not leave Himself behind. He was still the same Person, God’s only begotten Son, still possessing the same pure holy nature, the same love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity. He did not leave His divine character/nature behind because if He had done this, then there is no sense in which He could have been the same Person and furthermore, there would have been no way that He could have lived without committing sin.
In six millennia, among billions and billions of human beings, there has not arisen any human being who never committed sin, except One. Jesus is the only one who ever did it, and the only one who ever will do it during the age of sin. Why is this so? What is the reason? Remember, there is always a reason. The reason is, Jesus brought divinity into humanity – His own divine nature, His nature of infinity purity and goodness and it was this quality which set him apart from all other men; it was this quality which enabled Him to live as no other man ever lived, to face sin in fallen, degenerate human nature and still to conquer it.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Heb 1:9)
Notice why Jesus was exalted above all other men; it was because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, it is obvious that He was the only man who ever loved righteousness and hated iniquity. If any other man had possessed the same attitude, then God would have also anointed that man with the oil of gladness above his fellows. But this anointing was the privilege of Jesus alone and it was because He alone truly loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
The wonderful news is that Jesus was the beginning of the new humanity, the humanity where divinity and humanity are combined. Now as the “everlasting Father” of the new humanity, He passes on this life to His children in an experience called the “new birth,” in which they themselves receive of His very life, where they become partakers of this divine nature, this divine life which He brought into humanity. They become, like Him, capable of conquering sinful, fallen nature, because they also possess divine nature.
Which Law?
I was a little surprised by a couple of enquiries which came to us after the publication of the article, “ All Israel Will be Saved (Open Face 81, Nov. 2011). Both enquirers thought that the article was not very clear as to which law was being referred to when I made statements such as the following:
“The law was a stop-gap to school (educate) the people until the promised seed arrived. The law had a goal, a purpose, an end. When that goal had been reached, then the law had fulfilled its purpose and its authority was now obsolete.”
We apologize to all who experienced this same confusion and wish to make it absolutely clear what law we meant.
In going back through the article I find that I used the phrase, “The System of the Law,” four times. Here are a couple of instances in which the phrase was used:
“we are to understand that this casting off is not referring to Jews as individuals, but is referring to the system of salvation which was associated with the Jews. This system of salvation was the system of the law. This is what was cast off when the Jews as a nation were cast off.” (Open Face 81, p.2-3)
“Therefore, when the system of law was cast off, it was the Jewish system which was cast off.” (Open Face 81, p.3)
I thought that passages such as these would have made it clear that what I referred to was the system of government called “the law,” which was given to Israel at Mount Sinai. Now some people immediately think of the Ten Commandments whenever Mount Sinai is mentioned, but the fact is that at Mount Sinai, far more than the Ten Commandments were given to Israel. The Ten commandments are contained in Exodus 20:1-17. They take up just a part of one chapter, but the full body of the laws given on Mount Sinai take up the better part of the entire book of Leviticus and much of the rest of the book of Exodus. What was given to Israel at Mount Sinai was a complete system of government with intricate rules and ceremonies covering every aspect of private and public behaviour and practice. It is this system of government which was generally referred to as “the law.” Adventists have adopted the habit of referring to the Ten Commandments primarily, when we speak of “The Law,” but this is not the New Testament practice. In the New Testament, most of the references to the law have application to this entire system of government which controlled the existence of Israel as a nation. In the article under discussion I adopted the New Testament emphasis and in my references to the law I was speaking of the entire system of the law, not the Ten Commandments in particular.
It is interesting that a similar issue arose in 1888 when Jones and Waggoner brought the emphasis on Christ our Righteousness to the SDA church back in 1888. Elder Waggoner taught that the Law, as referred to by Paul in the book of Galatians referred to the moral law (the Ten Commandments). This resulted in strong opposition from some of the leading brethren because some of the things said about the law in the book of Galatians are very negative. Here are a few examples.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Gal 3:10)
And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. (Gal 3:12)
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Gal 3:19)
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Gal 3:23-25)
Waggoner taught that the law being referred to was the Ten Commandments, his opposers said, no, what was being referred to was, the ceremonial laws. Interestingly, Ellen White stated that what was being referred to was “both laws!”
I am asked concerning the law in Galatians. What law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ? I answer: Both the ceremonial and the moral code of ten commandments. {1SM 233.}
Obviously, what she meant was that Paul was referring to the entire system of the law and not to any particular aspect of it.
The point is, the law as a system was the means by which God governed and shepherded Israel for hundreds of years. This applies to the entire system of the law, not just to one particular part of it. It was a schoolmaster to teach and direct them and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. When the Messiah arrived, God had a different system of government for His people. Instead of directing and governing them with external rules, He would place His rules inside of them, on their very hearts, on their very natures. How would He do this? He would do it by filling them with His spirit and infusing His own nature into them so that they would do righteousness on the same basis on which He does righteousness, the basis of a good nature. Not because of a system of external government, but because of His spirit dwelling in their hearts. This is why Paul says,
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (Gal 5:18)
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom 6:14)
As Ezekiel put it,
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezek 36:26-27)
There were two very different systems, one was the system of the law which dealt with man from the outside. It demanded behaviour, and provided superficial remedies for sin, but it did not touch his heart and motives. The other system is the system of the spirit. This demands nothing, but it produces a new heart and a new mind which loves and lives righteously. Which fulfills the righteousness of the law, without the law (Rom. 3:21)
The fact is, the Ten Commandments do describe the behaviour which will be manifest in a righteous life, so I would never suggest that they can ever be done away with. Paul says the commandment is “holy and just and good,” (Rom. 7:12) and clearly, he was referring to the Ten Commandments in this instance. However, they were given as a part of the system of the law , a system which, in its entirety and in all its parts, could never make man righteous, so the entire system of government was only temporary. This is the point. It was the system which was to pass with its rules aimed at the outside, rather than the inside.
God never intended to govern His people from the outside, for such a system never produces true righteousness. It was always His perfect plan to reach us on the inside, by His spirit, to govern by the inward presence of the spirit, rather than the outward regulations of law.
But the Bible teaches that until His perfect plan was realized, until the Seed came who would initiate this perfect system, God placed Israel, His professed people under a temporary system of external government. He controlled, disciplined and taught them by means of strict rules, ceremonies and rituals, all encompassed in a system called “the law,” which was intended to restrain and limit their behaviour. It was never His perfect method, but it served His purpose and prepared them, the Jews and the rest of the world for the coming of the true reality, Jesus Christ, the Seed. God’s perfect answer to man’s problem of sin.
I hope this has helped to clarify the issue for those who were confused.
David Clayton
A Crippled Hand
There are two truths which I consider to be unassailable facts.
1. God is faithful, He always keeps His promises.
2. All the promises of God are to be received by faith. There is no other way to obtain them.
Consider the following illustration: If I stretch out a thousand dollars to you and say, “here, this is yours,” you need to stretch out your hand to take it. You do not stretch out your tongue or your foot, you reach out your hand. Why do you stretch out your hand? It is because the hand is the tool that you use to take things. It was designed for this purpose and if you don’t use it, it is possible that you may be given many gifts which never end up actually in your possession. It is not that you were not given the gifts, it is that you did not take them.
This is also true in the spiritual realm, with the difference that, in this realm, the faculty which we use to take the gifts of God is the faculty called “faith.” It is not our hands, but faith. Faith can receive any gift promised by God, but the truth is, like a crippled or withered hand, our faith is incapable of taking what has already been given to us. This is the true picture. It is not that God does not give what we ask, it is that we do not take it, because our faith is crippled. We don’t believe God, we don’t trust Him. This is not a criticism or something about which we need to feel condemned. If you had a crippled hand, there would be no need to feel condemned about that, but it would be helpful if you learn to do something about it. In the case of faith, that crippled hand can be strengthened and this is our greatest need, to set about doing what it takes to develop perfect trust in God, and in His promises.
We see the truth of this in the incident recorded in Matthew 17 when the disciples could not cast the devil out of the boy. It was God’s will to cast out the devil, but they could not do it. God had given them the power and authority to do it, but they could not do it. When Jesus came, the will of God was done and in answer to their question, “why couldn’t we cast him out,” Jesus answered, “because of your unbelief.”
This is the problem today. True faith is a very rare thing and the greatest need of God’s people today is to develop a relationship with God where they have absolute trust in Him. This kind of relationship and trust require work. It requires time spent alone with God, it requires a deliberate attempt to constantly focus our minds on Him and to live our lives with reference to Him. It takes work, and most people are not prepared to put in the work, but the truth is, there is no other way.
There is one sure indication that our faith is not true faith. Just look at the lives that we live. How many times in a day do we disobey Him, even in small things? Yet if we really do have faith in God and trust Him, how is it possible for us to consciously live contrary to His will? The very faith which impels us to live in submissiveness to God is the faith which enables us to take His promises. But self-will and disobedience are sure indicators that we do not have true faith.
So it is not God who withholds the blessings, it is we who fail to take them. This is the true reason for our spiritual poverty. Let us seek to know Him that true faith may be kindled in our hearts and all His wonderful promises may be fully realized in our lives.
Hidden Dangers of Sugar
Lenworth Frankson
For most of my life I have struggled with a taste for sweet things; you could say it became an addiction. Although I am far from obese, I am aware that my leanness is not necessarily an indication of good health. As I have said, throughout most of my life I have always had the desire for desserts, particularly pastry. I don’t believe that I was born this way but having been introduced to it from an early age, the love for sweet things, especially pastry, increased with time. The more I ate the greater was my desire for pastries. My addiction could have been related to something genetic or just bad habit formation. Maybe the eating habits and taste of the culture I grew up in had something to do with it, again I am not sure. What I do know however is that we all can, if we choose, train our taste buds to acquire or appreciate a particular taste. It was only recently that I really understood the seriousness of this truth and how it relates to the hidden dangers of sugar. As I researched the bad effects of suga r in our diet, I was surprised at how harmful sugar is to our bodies. Yes, the dangers of sugar are very serious and should not be taken lightly. Sadly most people are being deceived about sugar. Sugar is very addictive, destructive and poisonous. My adjectives might seem a bit extreme, but they are not. One of the big problems is that most people do not realize that they are addicted to sugar.
Most of us were taught from an early age that eating too many sweets or candy would rot our teeth, increase our risk of getting diabetes, and cause us to gain weight. The problem is that although we were told this, we were continually being fed and introduced to foods packed with sugar. I can’t blame my parents or my culture for this, because for the most part, I grew up in a place where we were ignorant of the harmful effects of sugar.
It is easy to become confused by the various sugars and sweeteners so the first point that I want to establish is that not all sugars are the same. Dextrose, fructose and glucose are all simple sugars. The primary difference between them is how your body metabolizes them. These simple sugars can combine to form more complex sugars, like sucrose (table sugar), which is half glucose and half fructose. High fructose corn syrup is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Sucrose when taken into the body, is broken down to half fructose and half glucose. At this point that it is essentially identical to high fructose corn syrup.
Glucose is the form of energy or sugar our bodies were designed to run on and every cell in our bodies uses it for energy. Glucose is a simple sugar that your body likes. Most of the carbohydrates we eat are made up of chains of glucose. When we consume glucose, it is actually helpful. When transported, into the body, it stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. The brain notices this increase, understands that your body is busy metabolizing what you just ate, and tells you that you’re less hungry. The important thing to note here is that when you consume glucose, your brain knows to tell you to stop eating when you’ve had enough.
There are many processes involved when you consume glucose, but one that occurs in your liver produces something called very low density lipoprotein (or VLDL). VLDL is linked to problems like cardiovascular disease and this seems to be a bad thing, but actually, only about 1 out of 24 calories from glucose that are processed by the liver turn into VLDL (the bad cholesterol). If glucose were the only thing you ate that produced VLDL, there would be no need for any serious concern.
The problem that we have now is that sucrose is no longer the sugar of choice. It is now fructose . Fructose is a natural sugar the body uses for energy which is found primarily in fruits, vegetables and raw honey. A small amount of fructose, such as the amount found in most vegetables and fruits, is not a bad thing. However, consuming too much fructose at once seems to overwhelm the body’s capacity to process it.
The body needs glucose in order to process fructose. When glucose enters the bloodstream, the body releases insulin to help regulate it. Fructose, on the other hand, is processed in the liver. When too much fructose enters the liver, the liver can’t process it all fast enough for the body to use as sugar. Instead, it starts making fats from the fructose, sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides. Triglycerides are the form in which most fat is stored in the body. Body fat is almost entirely made up of triglycerides, and fats are mostly transported in the blood in this form as well. Too many triglycerides in the blood are a risk factor for heart disease.
Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver which means that a greater number of calories, about three times more than glucose, are going through liver processes and the result is a much higher production of VLDL and fat. It also results in a higher production of uric acid and results in things like hypertension and high blood pressure. High blood concentrations of uric acid can also lead to a type of arthritis known as gout. It also is associated with other medical conditions like kidney stones.
The problem is that there is too much fructose in our diet due to the high usage of high fructose corn syrup which is added into almost all processed foods. As a result our bodies have to try to deal with excess sugar that it does not need. Fructose doesn’t provide an alert so your brain knows to tell you to stop eating, but fiber does this to a high degree. This is why you can eat fruit (despite the fructose content) without experiencing the same problems as drinking a sugary soda.
People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound. To make matters worse the very products most people rely on to lose weight (the low-fat diet foods) are often the ones highest in fructose.
Ellen White many years ago warned of the dangers of eating too much sugar:
Sugar is not good for the stomach. It causes fermentation and this clouds the brain and brings peevishness into the disposition. {CD 327}
Sugar clogs the system. It hinders the working of the living machine. {CD 327}
…. from the light given me, sugar, when largely used, is more injurious than meat. {CD 328}
From these statements and others we can clearly see that she discouraged the heavy use of sugar.
In the field of science and medicine they are others who have done extensive research and studies on this subject. The findings from these studies, strongly supports the argument against the heavy use of sugar.
Studies
In 1976 a study was published in the journal, Dental Survey . In this study, J.R. Ringsdorf found that drinking 24 ounces of cola depressed the activity of a kind of white blood cell called a neutrophil which eats bacteria. He found that this reduction in activity lasted for at least five hours. This was supported by another good study done in 1977 by J. Bernstein et al. called Depression of lymphocyte transformation following oral glucose ingestion , (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 30, page 613).
In 1991, T.W. Jones et al. published an article called Independent effects of youth and poor diabetes control on responses to hypoglycemia in children. It was published in Diabetes , Volume 40, pages 358-63. These researchers found that sugar increases adrenalin, a stimulating hormone secreted by the adrenal glands. It was also found that this adrenalin increase was far more pronounced in children than in adults, which might account for why children often have hyperactivity problems when their diet contains refined sugars.
When sugar is constantly in the diet, the pancreas must constantly produce insulin. When sugar is continually overused, the pancreas eventually wears out and is no longer able to clear sugar from the blood, and diabetes is often the result. This tendency toward diabetes rises severely after menopause. Some people may have enough insulin but the cells have become insulin-resistant, so they do not absorb the insulin to facilitate absorption of glucose.
Dr. Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, notes that studies have shown that long-term consumption of sugared drinks can double the risk of diabetes, with half of that risk due to the excess weight brought on by the calories, and the other half due to the beverage’s high sugar content, which is mostly fructose.
Dr Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, states that sugar is a poison by itself. I would encourage everyone to watch his presentation on You Tube entitled “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” , you will be amazed. He makes the point that High-fructose corn syrup or table sugar is equally bad and equally poisonous.
Dr Nancy Appleton, author of the book Lick the Sugar Habit, produced an extensive list of the many ways sugar can ruin one’s health, compiled from a vast number of medical journals and other scientific publications. These sources are listed at the website mercola.com , in the article titled the “76 Dangers of Sugar to Your Health”. Here are some of her findings:
• Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.
• Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
• Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
• Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.
• Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.
• Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.
• Sugar can weaken eyesight.
• Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.
• Sugar can cause premature aging. In fact, the single most important factor that accelerates aging is insulin, which is triggered by sugar.
• Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
• Sugar can cause your saliva to become acidic, causing tooth decay, and periodontal disease.
• Sugar contributes to obesity.
• Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.
• Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)
• Sugar can cause gallstones.
• Sugar can cause appendicitis.
• Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
• Sugar can cause varicose veins.
• Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.
• Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
• Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.
• Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.
• Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.
• Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
• High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are sugar molecules that attach to and damage proteins in your body. AGEs speed up the aging of cells, which may contribute to a variety of chronic and fatal diseases.
• Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.
• Sugar causes food allergies.
• Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
• Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
• Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
• Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.
• Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.
• Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
• Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.
• Sugar can cause emphysema.
• High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.
• Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.
• Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.
• Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide, and it can increase the amount of fat in your liver, leading to fatty liver disease.
• Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.
• Sugar can damage your pancreas.
• Sugar can increase your body’s fluid retention.
• Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.
• Sugar can compromise the lining of your capillaries. Sugar can make your tendons more brittle.
• Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
• Sugar can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect your children’s grades and cause learning disorders.
• Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves, which can alter your ability to think clearly.
• Sugar can cause depression.
• Sugar can increase your risk of gout.
• Sugar can increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. MRI studies show that adults 60 and older who have high uric acid are four to five times more likely to have vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s.
• Sugar can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.
• Sugar can lead to dizziness.
• Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.
• A high sucrose diet in subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.
• High sugar consumption by pregnant adolescents can lead to a substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold-increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
• Sugar is an addictive substance.
• Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
• Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.
• Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.
• Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.
• The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.
• Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.
• Sugar can impair the function of your adrenal glands.
• Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in normal, healthy individuals, thereby promoting chronic degenerative diseases.
• Intravenous feedings (IVs) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain.
• Sugar increases your risk of polio.
• High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.
• Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.
• In intensive care units, limiting sugar saves lives.
• Sugar may induce cell death.
• In juvenile rehabilitation centers, when children were put on low sugar diets, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.
• Sugar dehydrates newborns.
• Sugar can cause gum disease.
We simply cannot achieve our highest degree of health and vitality if we are consuming significant amounts of sugar. As healthy as raw honey is, the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs to be moderate when using honey.
It is not good to eat much honey…. Proverbs 25:27.
For years many of us, due to an unsanctified diet, developed unhealthy eating habits that caused or created health problems. Some were ignorant while others were addicts due to lack of discipline. We can’t undo the past but we can decide today that by the grace of God we will make the necessary changes to reduce or eliminate sugar, especially fructose, from our foods. The damage might have been done but fortunately, your body has an amazing ability to heal itself when given the basic nutrition it needs. Our liver has an incredible ability to regenerate. We are “ fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works;” If you start making changes today, your health will begin to improve, returning you to the state of vitality that nature intended.
I have pledged to make the necessary changes, will you?
Try doing this simple quiz which can give a good indication as to whether or not you are addicted to sugar. Be honest with your answers .
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1. I don’t eat refined sugar every day ….…….TRUE…………FALSE
2. I can go more than a day without eating some kind of sugar-containing food ……….TRUE…………FALSE
3. I never have cravings for sugar, coffee, chocolate, peanut butter or alcohol. ………..TRUE…………FALSE
4. I’ve never hidden sweets around the house so I can eat them later. …………..TRUE………FALSE
5. I can stop after eating one bite of pastry or one piece of candy. ……………TRUE………FALSE
6. There are times when I have no sugar around the house. …………….TRUE………FALSE
7. I can have sweets in the house without eating them. ………..TRUE………FALSE
8. I can go at least 3 hours without eating without shakes, fatigue or bad moods ……..TRUE………FALSE
9. I do not eat something sweet after every meal. ……….TRUE………FALSE
10. I rarely drink coffee or eat donuts or sweet rolls for breakfast ……….TRUE……….…FALSE
11. I can go more than an hour after waking without eating. …………TRUE…………FALSE
12. I don’t drink sweetened soft drinks every day. ……….TRUE………FALSE
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If you answered four of these questions FALSE, seek help for your sugar addiction.
If you answered between 1 and 3 questions as FALSE then you may develop an addiction later.
Zero FALSE answers mean you don’t have a problem.
Judge Not!
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
as I entered Heaven’s door…
Not by the beauty of it all,
by the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
who made me sputter and gasp…
the thieves, the liars, the sinners,
the alcoholics, the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade
who swiped my lunch money twice
Next to him was my old neighbor
who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
was rotting away in hell….
was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake.”
And why’s everyone so quiet,
so somber? Give me a clue…
“Hush, child,,” said He, “They’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d see you.”
Open Face is published bi-monthly and is sent free to all who desire to receive it.
David Clayton: Editor and Publisher
P. O. Box 23 Knockpatrick
Manchester, Jamaica W.I.
Phone: (876) 603-0821 Or (304) 932-4543
email: david@restorationministry.com
