The message from Jesus to Laodicea is not one of condemnation, rejection, or abandonment. It is not a message sent to discourage; no, it is a message of hope, for it is a message from our loving Creator and Savior that accurately diagnoses our sin-sick, terminal condition—not to condemn, but so that we will recognize it, repent, and receive His salvation, and allow Him to heal us and restore us to righteousness.

But Jesus cannot save those whose hearts are closed to Him; that is why the message depicts Him standing at the door knocking and pleading with the Laodiceans to let Him in. However, something has happened in their hearts and minds that causes them to think they are fine, rich, righteous, and don’t need to open their hearts.

In 1890, one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church, Ellen G. White (EGW), who the church officially recognizes as having the special gift of prophecy, wrote an absolutely stunning article published in the church’s official flagship publication, The Review and Herald, in which she specifically applies the Laodicean message to the SDA Church.

Her article appeared in the aftermath of the 1888 General Conference session, in which a special message was brought to the church by Jones and Waggoner. Their message had two main components: one was that God’s law is not like human law, made-up rules enforced through the infliction of imposed punishments, but that God is Creator and His laws are design laws. Along with this, they presented the truth that the law in Galatians that was added (not eternal) included the Ten Commandments. The second component was the idea that righteousness is not legal; it is not made in record books with legal declarations in a heavenly court system; instead, it is actual—sinners become righteous in reality such that Christ’s substitutionary atonement, when experienced by faith, results in real righteousness within the believer: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV84, emphasis mine).

This special message was rejected by the leadership of the SDA Church, who insisted that the Ten Commandments are eternal and that sin is rule-breaking, requiring God to use His power to inflict punishment upon sinners who do not claim the legal payment of Christ for salvation. Further, they went on to teach that righteousness is not actual but legal adjustments in heavenly court systems in which God declares people to be legally righteous based on their legal claim of Jesus as their substitute in taking their penalty, while in reality they remain unrighteous.

In the aftermath of this debacle, this rejection of the truth, EGW went on a campaign to correct this error. As all of God’s spokespersons throughout history, she found herself speaking truth to the leaders of the church who were opposing the truth—as seen in the entire history of Israel and the many prophets, of Jesus’ experience with the Sanhedrin, of the experience of the apostles and the Reformers.

The SDA Church found itself in the same conflict raging since Adam’s fall, a struggle to actually trust God, open the heart, and experience His Spirit to give a new righteous life (rebirth)—or attempting another means of salvation, a legal one.

What Is Biblical Faith?

Restoration of trust in the heart is what the Bible calls faith; it is a living, abiding, confident trust in God. We trust Him with our inmost self. This is a living faith, a moment-to-moment trust of God with our lives, futures, how things will turn out. When this living faith is experienced, it results in sinners becoming the righteousness of God. This is the righteousness by faith message, true transformation of a sinner into a righteous, loyal friend of God, which happens only by faith or trust.

But the Bible teaches there is a false faith, a faith that does not lead to righteousness, a faith, a religion, a belief, a form of godliness that has no power and results in people functioning no differently from the world, while they are deceived into believing they are righteous.

Jesus said,

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21–23 NIV84, emphasis mine).

And Paul said,

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them (2 Timothy 3:1–5 NIV84, emphasis mine).

Jesus and Paul are not talking about the atheist, the agnostic, the God-deniers. They are talking about people who have a form of godliness, who claim to be God-like or Christian, but who deny the power of God and, thus, function no differently from the world.

This is a Christianity that is built on the lie that God’s law functions like human law, imposed rules requiring God to use power to torture and kill sinners for so-called justice’s sake.

In this false legal view, faith is not restored in God because the legal theology they hold so dear teaches that God is the source of pain, suffering, and death, which He inflicts upon anyone who breaks His law and does not propitiate or assuage His wrath by claiming the blood of His Son.

Consequences of the Legal Lie

This false theology, rather than leading people to a living faith, genuine trust in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, divides the Godhead and teaches people to place their trust in the mechanics—the payments, systems, concepts, and beliefs—that get applied through Jesus to placate or legally propitiate the Father. These beliefs function to hide, conceal, separate, and protect sinners from God, whom they believe will kill them if they don’t do this, rather than reconcile sinners to Him.

They will take the same beautiful words and metaphors of Scripture and pervert them to undermine living faith, to undermine saving trust, and their very doctrines keep the spirit of fear alive in their hearts while they claim legal salvation. They teach people to trust in the blood payment, intercessory pleas, prayers of Jesus to His Father, the legal claims, adjustment in record books, erasure of records from books and minds, covering over wickedness with a white robe so the Father is blinded, prevented from seeing reality so that in heaven, He makes a legal declaration of righteousness while the sinner remains unrighteous in reality.

Because this false legal model has no saving power, because it does not bring the life of Christ into operation within the heart of the sinner, the sinner continues to be motivated by their inherited spirit of fear and selfishness. And this causes them to become preoccupied with deeds, the dos and don’ts, and ensuring they know the right doctrines and rules and rule-enforcement.

They are falsely taught that salvation is choosing to believe the right doctrines, joining the right church, eating the right foods, resting on the right day, participating in the right ceremonies performed in the right way, and reading from the right Bible. They feel secure in believing that they have identified Bible truths, are members of the remnant church, and obey the right rules—yet they are still unconverted and become ever more like the legalistic Jews who crucified Christ.

This legal approach with faith in the legal payment, from hearts motivated by fear and selfishness, leads to church members in constant conflict, constant debate, constant argument, and ever-increasing fracturing, division, and hostility with one another. Indeed, in 2001, the World Christian Encyclopedia reported that Christianity had divided into 34,000 separate groups, and by 2018, according to the Center for Study of Global Christianity, Christianity was divided into 41,000 separate groups.

This fragmentation of Christianity occurs because the unrenewed heart lives in fear—fear of making mistakes, forgetting something, not understanding properly, doing something wrong, believing the wrong thing, belonging to the wrong group—and they become hypervigilant about anything that threatens their sense of safety. Thus, rather than focusing on love for God and others, they focus on rules and rule-enforcement, and are intolerant of others who don’t practice their rules. They become thought-police to maintain orthodoxy, and those who stray and refuse to return to the proper way of thinking must be removed from their positions in leadership, silenced, and eventually purged from the group. This process is well documented throughout church history.

Jesus’ Message to Laodicea

Looking through the corridors of time, Jesus, through the apostle John, sent another message to the church that exists just before the second coming:

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:14–20 NIV84, emphasis mine).

Lukewarm refers to the mixture of hot and cold. The cold are the rejectors of God, those who deny Him completely. Hot are those who are on fire for God, who have been reborn and are animated by His Spirit. Lukewarm are the ones Jesus described in the passage above, those who are doing all kinds of things in Jesus’ name, appearing by behavior and even their words to be on fire for the Lord, but with unrenewed, cold hearts—hearts without the fire of the Holy Spirit that would make them hot for the Lord; in other words, they are still motivated by the spirit of fear and selfishness, promoting a legal religion.

These church members believe they are rich because they have the truth, the right doctrines, they are the remnant—they have the right Sabbath, Bible, sanctuary message, understanding of the state of the dead, the spirit of prophecy, and belong to the organization called by God with His special message. They believe they don’t need anything because they are rich with the truth.

Yet this was the exact state of the Jewish leadership that crucified Christ 2,000 years ago; they had the right doctrines, spirit of prophecy, Sabbath, dietary reform, and sanctuary message; they believed in the inspiration of Scripture, God as Creator—and they were unrenewed, unregenerated, and hard-hearted, operating from the spirit of fear and selfishness upon a legal framework of religion in which they believed God’s law functions like human law.

And they thought they were rich in righteousness, just like our church today, but in fact, Jesus’ message to the church is that the people are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked; we are unrighteous, unrenewed. Notice the message of Jesus is not that you have the wrong doctrines—it is your condition of being! You are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. You must buy from me gold refined in the fire, a white robe, and eye salve. The gold is the love and truth of God that leads to trust and results in surrender of our life of fear and selfishness and being reborn with the life of Christ, which is the white robe, the pure life, and then we are enlightened and cleansed by the eye salve of the Holy Spirit.

But how do we buy this from Jesus? By barter, by exchange. In other words, we surrender our sinful life and receive His sinless life. We surrender our fear and selfishness and receive His love and trust, our guilt and shame for His grace and peace, our will for His will, our desires for His desires. We cannot receive the life of Christ while we cling to our life of fear and selfishness!

So Jesus pleads with us, standing at the door of our hearts, knocking with truth and love via the Holy Spirit: “Won’t you trust me; won’t you let me in so I can give you life, cleanse the temple of your soul, remove all your guilt, shame, and fear, clear up all the confusion, doubts, and misunderstandings, and rebuild you perfectly in my image?”

The End-Time Message

This special end-time message is the message of the three angels of Revelation 14 that is to go to the world at this time in history—the message that calls people back to the truth of who God is, the eternal gospel, good news, that God is not an imperial dictator whose laws function like creatures make up. We are called back to worshiping God as Creator, which requires returning to design law understanding, and leaving the corrupt system of Babylon behind, a system that enslaves the righteous, a system built upon imposed law, law enforcement, domination over others; and then, when we do this, we see God in His true light, and we are won to trust and choose to open the heart to Him and are reborn with His Spirit of love and trust. Then we are animated, motivated, brought to life, with His living law established within our being, and we live lives of righteousness—we become righteous by faith!

This message of real righteousness by faith—a faith established upon the eternal good news, the eternal gospel of who God is as Creator, built upon the truth that His law is design law and the rejection of the imposed-law lies that prevents genuine trust in God, and calls people out of Babylon, of Romanism, the legal system of religion—was brought to the SDA Church at the 1888 General Conference through Jones and Waggoner, and it was a message endorsed by EGW.

But the official church leadership rejected it and chose instead, like the Pharisees did, to reject Jesus and His true gospel, and the organizational church has been wandering in the wilderness of legal religion without power and incapable of fulfilling its mission ever since. And it cannot fulfill its mission until the people repent and actually return to worshiping God as Creator, embrace the truth that His laws are design laws, open their hearts in actual trust, and receive the outpouring of the latter rain, the Holy Spirit, to seal them and empower them to take the true message of God as Creator to the world.

Ellen G. White’s Indictment

Now, what I just said is a very strong indictment, but it did not originate with me; I am only giving voice to it today. This indictment came from Jesus to the church of Laodicea and was further explicitly directed to the SDA Church by none other than EGW, who was at that meeting in 1888. With my own commentary in red lettering, this is what she said:

On many occasions the Holy Spirit did work, but those who resisted the Spirit of God at Minneapolis were waiting for a chance to travel over the same ground again, because their spirit was the same. … They pronounced in their heart and soul and words that this manifestation of the Holy Spirit was fanaticism and delusion. They stood like a rock, the waves of mercy flowing upon and around them, but beaten back by their hard and wicked hearts, which resisted the Holy Spirit’s working. [Remember, she is speaking of the delegates to the SDA Church’s General Conference session, not just church members; rather, these are church leaders, pastors, conference presidents, and publishing house directors.] Had this been received, it would have made them wise unto salvation; holier men, prepared to do the work of God with sanctified ability. But all the universe of heaven witnessed the disgraceful treatment of Jesus Christ, represented by the Holy Spirit. Had Christ been before them, they would have treated him in a manner similar to that in which the Jews treated Christ (1888, 1478.2, emphasis mine).

She also wrote:

An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren [E.J.] Waggoner and [A.T.] Jones. [“This truth” is referring to the truth that the Ten Commandments were added and are not eternal; that salvation is not legal, but actual transformation of sinners into righteous people by receiving the life of Christ through faith, all of which are founded upon the eternal gospel that God is Creator and His laws are design laws, the laws that life are built to operate upon.] By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world (Selected Messages, Volume 1, p. 234, emphasis mine).

And she wrote:

But the work that all heaven was waiting to do (1888 Minneapolis) as soon as men prepared the way [Jones and Waggoner], was not done. For the leaders closed and bolted the door against the Holy Spirit (Letter 123, 1902, Battle Creek Letters, pp. 55, 56, emphasis mine).

The work that all heaven was waiting to do, if the true gospel message had been accepted, was not done! So, instead, the organized church has been taking a false legal message to the world —having the right doctrines but setting them in the false imposed-law legal setting. And it is the penal/legal theology they take, despite having the right doctrines, that closes and bolts the doors of hearts to the Holy Spirit—it prevents renewal; the very legal message being taught prevents salvation, while causing people to believe they are spiritually rich and increased in righteousness because they have the provable right doctrines.

The year following the leadership’s rejection of the 1888 message, EGW immediately began writing to advance the true message and calling the church to repent and embrace the truth. Many books—The Desire of Ages, Steps to Christ, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, Christ Object Lessons—all teach this truth.

She also wrote many letters and articles trying to break through the false legal lies. And in 1890, she wrote an article that was published in the Review and Herald that lays all of this out plainly. In part 2 of this series, we will unpack portions of that article.