LeRoy Edwin Froom Acquitted!! Proofs of The Pre-1915 SDA Trinity Doctrine He Inherited Instead of Inventing!
A 2017 Expose by Derrick Gillespie "...when there were no worlds; no created being, not even an angel; in fact, there were only three beings — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; these three persons in the Godhead.“ ---- Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 1. Jan 1, 1901. No., 2409; p. 2 "Paganism, popery [the Papacy], and infidelity fail entirely to either rightly know or truly represent the ever-living God. It is left for pure Protestantism to proclaim to the world the true God consisting of three persons but of one spirit and aim." ---Signs of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 24 [Australia], June 12, 1911; p. 371.372
INTRODUCTION A few years back (probably 10 years ago) I wrote a booklet addressing the charges leveled against LeRoy Froom. Click the link to acquire your own free copy and read it BEFORE delving into this new 2017 publication (click all links throughout this booklet to get more details on the issues). At the time I had far less evidence than I have today, and yet I knew even then he was not guilty of much of what he is charged with by certain dissident SDA members. Since then I have acquired a ton of evidence to further acquit him of the charges as it concerns the acceptance of and worship of the Trinity in Adventism specifically. And what is amazing is how the evidence continues to grow as modern research technology and Internet makes it’s so much easier to research historical material related to SDA history, which, before now, would have been harder to wade through and analyze.
* Born October 16, 1890 – died February 20, 1974 LeRoy Froom was deemed by one dissident website online as “the most dangerous man in Adventism” despite he is now dead since 1974 (just as the Jews deemed, and today still deem, both Jesus and apostle Paul as the most dangerous Jew among the Jews), while others paint Froom as a member of the secret cult of the Freemasons (just as the critics of Adventism deem all the SDA pioneers, including Mrs. White herself, to have been Freemasons), while others deem Froom as a Jesuit who was secretly working to get SDAs to unite with the Papacy doctrinally (just as the Jews deemed Jesus as Beelzebub the demon, operating in union with other demons, and as a friend of sinners). What do most if not all these SDA dissidents have in common? They are either mostly or all anti-Trinitarians seeking to find a scapegoat for [1] the Holy Spirit being deemed by mainstream SDAs today as one of three beings of the Godhead, [2] for the Trinity doctrine being in Adventism today, and [3] for SDAs today worshipping three beings of the Godhead just as we would worship one God!! Truth be told? LeRoy Froom was born several years too late (he was born in 1890), because the Trinity doctrine that he is charged with “introducing to and imposing on Adventism”, evidence has come to light that he had nothing to do with it initially, but he simply inherited what went before him (as articulated by the SDA pioneers themselves) and he simply later documented what he came on the scene and saw already happening and already developing in Adventism. Click the link to see clearly
the SDA pioneers’ own pre-1915 (and pre-Froom) testimony regarding their version of “the Bible doctrine of the Trinity” which they accepted, and about their version of “the Trinity” they worshipped instead of the Roman Catholic version. This 2017 booklet will not strive to delve too much into details about LeRoy Froom but will simply lay out the new evidence that has come to light about the SDA pioneers themselves from the 1890s up to 1915 (and years BEFORE LeRoy Froom became active on the scene in the 1920s and thereafter), and the reader can be the jury for himself based on the weight of evidence. But before I release the new findings (separate and apart from what I revealed in my earlier publications about the SDA pioneers and the Trinity doctrine in Adventism), let me revise what was earlier revealed and see how LeRoy Froom featured in that scenario. WHAT DOCTRINAL CHANGES DURING MRS WHITE’S TIME DID LEROY FROOM NOT SEE? 1. In 1892 (WHEN LEROY FROOM WAS JUST 2 YEARS OLD) the Signs of the Times SDA magazine defended their 1891 publication of an article supportively using the term "the Trinity", and where the "supreme *beings" (plural) of the Father and Son being represented by the "supreme being" of the Spirit, and all three being deemed "the Deity" is set forth. Keep in mind that “the Deity” (capitalized) is the term for the Supreme Being or God, and here all three “supreme beings” were deemed “the Deity” in 1891 and 1892!! Mrs. White published in that same paper and never objected to that new development in Adventism!! She never did thereafter either!! 2. In that same year of 1892 (WHEN LEROY FROOM WAS STILL JUST 2 YEARS OLD), the SDA Church via the Pacific Press publishing house, supportively published Spears’s non-SDA Trinity article which the SDA pioneers themselves renamed and entitled it “The Bible Doctrine of the Trinity”…obviously admitting that there is indeed a biblical version of the Trinity that is acceptable!! In the year 1894 as well, that same Spear Trinity article speaking supportively of the “triune God”, and which presented a "tri-personal God" and deemed/defended "bible trinitarians" as "not tri-theists", was again glowingly endorsed in the following words: “…It presents the Bible view of the *doctrine of the Trinity [not just the "trinity" group] in the terms used in the Bible, and therefore avoids all philosophical discussion and foolish speculation. It is a tract worthy of reading." - Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 29, 1894. Notice the words "the *DOCTRINE of the Trinity" in the quote above, and recognize the SDA pioneers were endorsing not just the term "trinity", as some dissidents in Adventism today would want you to believe; but the "BIBLE *DOCTRINE of the Trinity" when correctly explained without philosophical and mystical speculations ( as evident in the Spear article). That’s an irrefutable reality which several dissidents in Adventism go to extreme measures to deny and cover up!! See an example of such extreme denial and cover up here. Click link. 3. In 1892 (WHILE LEROY FROOM WAS STILL ON HIS MOTHER’S BREAST MILK), Mrs. White herself made the following statement, indicating clearly why the SDA Church NEEDED TO ACCEPT CHANGE and this allowed for an SDA Church that was now leaning in the direction of a new form of or ‘tailored’ Trinitarianism, i.e. separate Godhead beings all together worshipped and praised as “the Trinity”:
“There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair....There are those who oppose everything that is not in accordance with their own ideas, and by so doing they endanger their eternal interest as verily as did the Jewish nation in their rejection of Christ. The Lord designs that our opinions shall be put to the test, that we may see the necessity of closely examining the living oracles to see whether or not we are in the faith. Many [i.e. SDA pioneers in 1892] who claim to believe the truth have settled down at their ease, saying, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." --E.G. White, Review and Herald, December 20, 1892. Can you imagine, dear reader, Mrs. White is here telling the SDA pioneers just after 1888 (nearly fifty years after the founding of the Advent Movement) that they didn’t necessarily have everything correctly worked out doctrinally [*click this link to see Mrs. White quoting non-SDA *Trinitarian authors], and that they didn’t necessarily have all truths already hammered out, but allowance should be made even then for new light to come. And then notice that it was primarily after that Mrs. White begun to introduce new light on not just the Law, and on salvation through faith, but also on the Godhead. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, dear reader, and as bright as the sun!! No one can cover it up!! 4. In 1896 (WHEN LEROY FROOM WAS NOW JUST 6 YEARS OLD) Uriah Smith himself (click link) as editor of the Review and writer of the “In the Question Chair” column, for the first time defended song and praise to the Holy Spirit as part of “the same trinity” the Father and Son belongs to (he actually named them as such; knowing full well that a Godhead “trinity” means “three persons”; not two), and he defended them as "the same trinity" who are praised and worshipped together (a first time supportive use of the term “the trinity” by him in this way). Again, let me underscore the point (for emphasis) that Uriah Smith fully well knew that “a trinity” when applied to the Godhead means “three persons”; not two….despite some today desperately want to make a Godhead “trio” mean two, and likewise a “trinity”. In the same year, 1896, another leading pioneer made plain, going even further than Uriah Smith had stated in 1891 about the Spirit “emanating” from God: “From the figures which are brought out in Revelation, Ezekiel, and other Scriptures, and from the language which is used in reference to the Holy Spirit, we are led to believe he is something more than an emanation from the mind of God. He is spoken of as a personality [or individual being], and treated as such. He [the Holy Spirit] is included in the apostolic benediction [2 Cor.13: 14], and is spoken by our Lord [Jesus] as acting in an INDEPENDENT and PERSONAL capacity as Teacher, Guide, and Comforter. He is an object of *VENERATION [worship] and is A [singular] Heavenly INTELLIGENCE, everywhere present, and is always present [thus was always in existence; Heb. 9:14].”
---G.C. Tenny- “To Correspondents”, Review& Herald, June 9, *1896, pg. 362
*N.B. “Veneration” – comes from Latin, “venerari” – which means, “to worship”!! The above quote from the Review to the public in 1896 is self-explanatory…no further comments needed. 4. In 1900 (WHEN LEROY FROOM WAS NOW JUST 10 YEARS OLD) the Review and Herald published the thought that “how surprisingly beautiful are the blended personalities of our TRIUNE GOD”…”; obviously with separate beings involved and not the Roman Catholic version, since SDAs have always maintained the existence of separate beings of divinity). Yes, to the pioneers the “surprisingly beautiful” truth begun to emerge, after many years of denouncing both the expressions “trinity” and “triune God” when applied to the Godhead. The very “triune God” expression seen supportively used in the Spear article, published in 1892, was now being countenanced by SDA pioneers as early as 1900. In 1902, while still refusing to accept the traditional mystical and speculative explanations about “the Trinity” in traditional Christendom, and while indicating why SDAs earlier did not teach anything about the Trinity, E.J. Waggoner was now willing to deem God the following way, showing further marked changes in pioneering thinking: "...as to the Being of God,—the Godhead,—Divinity as revealed in the Father, the Word (the Son), and the Holy Spirit, we [SDAs] believe and teach just what the Bible says, and nothing else. No man can by searching find out God. No creature can understand the Almighty to perfection. The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity..." ---E. J. Waggoner, The Present Truth for 1902 - Vol. 18 - No. 06, pg. 83) It’s interesting that pioneers like E.J. Waggoner were now deeming the Godhead beings (plural) as “the being [existence] of God” (proving that using this ‘tri-unitive’ language about the Godhead beings (plural) was not an idea introduced by Leroy Froom after the 1920s, or by a later generation of SDAs far removed from the time of the pioneers, as dissidents love to claim). 5. In 1905 (WHEN LEROY FROOM WAS JUST A TEENEAGER), S.N. Haskell published his book “The Story of the Seer of Patmos”, and for the first time ever in the 1908 version, on page 132, admitted “the great *Trinity” of heaven as being deemed worthy of the praise of mankind; and notice he used the term in the capitalized form, and called the group “the great *Trinity”…even though he could have used the expression “the heavenly trio”. By the way, keep in mind that both Catholics and general Christendom, and even SDA pioneers, refer to “the Trinity” and the “doctrine of the trinity” both in the capitalized and non-capitalized form of the expression, so it is no strange thing to see them use the expression written both ways (despite the denial of this reality by some dissidents in Adventism today). In 1906, S.N. Haskell was personally lauded by Mrs. White for his work as a bible teacher…proving he was no heretic drifting off into “spiritualism’ as some dissidents would want to accuse him of (for admitting worship as acceptable for “the great Trinity” of heaven). 6. In 1908 (WHEN LEROY FROOM WAS NOW ENDING HIS TEENAGE YEARS) the General Conference of SDA pioneers (taking counsel together) vetted and passed the new Christ in Song hymnal, where (on page 6) it had, for the first time ever, songs dedicated to “the Trinity”, (yes, an entire section directly named as such); where both the Holy Spirit and the “Eternal Three” were equally praised together in songs listed in that section (and they too in 1908 know
that to refer to the Godhead as “the Trinity” immediately expressed “three persons; not two). This was while Mrs. White was alive, and she herself would have sung from that hymnal (yet no objection registered on her part). That’s instructive, but dissidents try to ignore this GLARING reality! Also in 1907, 1908, and 1909 respectively, other noted SDA pioneers were on record saying (WHILE LEROY FROOM WAS NOWHERE IN THE PICTURE): "...the Holy Spirit IS A PERSON. This great truth is not recognized, indeed it is NOT believed, by more than a very few even of Christians [many SDA pioneers at the time included]....The Holy Spirit is a Person, ETERNALLY A DIVINE PERSON. And he must be ALWAYS RECOGNIZED and spoken of as a Person, or he is not truly recognized or spoken of at all...the Scriptures make perfectly plain the truth that the Holy Spirit is, none other than a living, speaking, divine, and eternal person. Exactly as Christ is a person and as God is a person..." ---A.T. Jones, Medical Missionary, March 27, 1907, pg. 98 “The Person by whom God will judge the world is Jesus Christ, God-Man. The second Person in THE *Trinity, that same Person of Whom we read in our Bibles...was born of the Virgin Mary…” ---Present Truth, 1908, Vol. 24, No. 51-52, pg. 812 “…the enemy gladly leads to what appears to be a more rational, though not less erroneous idea – that there is no trinity, and that Christ is merely a created being. But God’s great plan is clear and logical. There is a trinity, and in it there are three personalities…We have the Father described in Dan. 7:9, 10…a personality surely…In Rev. 1:13-18 we have the Son described. He is also a personality… The Holy Spirit is spoken of throughout Scripture as a personality. These divine persons are associated in the work of God…But this union is not one in which individuality is lost…There is indeed a divine trio, but the Christ of that Trinity is not a created being as the angels- He was the “only begotten” of the Father…” ---Robert Hare, Union Conference Record, July 19, 1909 Thus the pre-1915 evidence of new Godhead-related sentiments and doctrinal changes in Adventism is overwhelming!! And what then happened in 1913 was only the logical outcome. 7. In 1913 (WHEN LEROY FROOM JUST ENTERED ADULTHOOD), the Church’s leading editor of its publications, F.M. Wilcox, (a man highly regarded by E.G. White herself; and asked by her, among others, to guard her estate upon her death), he released in the Review and Herald Seventh-day Adventism’s first Statement of Belief recognizing “the Trinity” but as separate beings. And that same F.M. Wilcox is on record later explaining (in a doctrinal book officially published by the Review and Herald) that the Godhead of three persons/beings have “separate individuality” but was to SDAs unitedly praised as “one God”; proving this was not (as some like to falsely argue) a sentiment only established in Adventism in 1980, and only after Leroy Froom so-called ‘introduced” it to and “imposed” it on Adventism after the 1920s. Leroy Froom simply inherited all of these previously described realities in Adventism, when he became active in the 1920s and thereafter!! This again is irrefutable! And all along the way from 1892, doctrinal books for SDA colleges, bible readings for the SDA home books, and the like, started from 1892, to insert the term “the trinity”, and deem the divine group as being worthy of praise as "the trinity" (Uriah Smith himself endorsed this
before his 1903 death); a group of “persons” consisting of the Father, the Son and the *Holy Spirit (a matter I have a mountain of evidence to prove...xeroxed pages and all). Click this link to see the past evidence I already revealed. And the rest, as they say, is history!! Therefore as I now reveal what has come to light since then let me pause to remind the dissidents acting as “accusers of the brethren”, including “accusers” of LeRoy Froom: "When someone who is genuinely mistaken learns the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or will no longer remain genuine." – Anonymous I did promise new evidence to further acquit LeRoy Froom of the charge of introducing the Trinity of three beings in Adentism, which will prove instead him INHERITING the worshipping of the Trinity from the SDA pioneers themselves. I will simply lay out hereafter the actual photocopied exhibits from actual SDA pioneering publications, and allow you to read for yourself and form your own judgment, dear reader, and then I will close at the end with a few closing comments. So here goes….
FURTHER EXHIBITS OF PRE-1915 SDA PIONEERING TESTIMONY BEFORE LEROY FROOM BECAME ACTIVE IN ADVENTISM IN THE 1920s:
Photocopy of The Present Truth (England), January 7, 1897, Vol. 13, No.1,pg. 8
Photocopy of The Present Truth (England), October 24, 1895, Vol. 11. No. 43, pg. 680
Photocopy of The 1893 Hymns and Tunes Hymnal. In song # 105 Jesus was being praised by all SDA pioneers as “O Lord our God, the Lamb” [the Son]
Photocopy of The Signs of the Times, May 28, 1885, pg. 326 The foregoing exhibits from the 1890s (WHILE LEROY FROOM WAS STILL JUST AN INFANT CHILD) show the SDA pioneers already beginning to, first, deem Jesus as “God the Son” and “God the Lamb” (see more details at this link), second, all three persons of the “blessed Trinity” (yes, of the “blessed Trinity”) as our “Comforter” or the “God that comforteth”, and, thirdly, the Holy Spirit as the “co-equal” of the Father and the Son as a “divine person”, i.e. much “more than a divine influence”. No wonder in the same 1890s, E.J. Waggoner for the first time uttered these words (expressing the co-equality of the “three persons”): “The Board have never intended their teachers to diverge from the presentation of the Christian religion which is revealed in the Bible. While following the Syllabus which is suggested to you yearly, you are at liberty to refer to other parts of the Bible by which the principles of the Christian religion may be elucidated and enforced. But in the course of the lessons as opportunity occurs you will impress upon the children the relation in which they stand to God the Father as their Creator; to *God the Son (!!!) as their Redeemer; and to God the Holy Ghost (!!!) as their Sanctifier." ---E.J. Waggoner, Present Truth (UK), February 15, 1894, p. 101 Clearly E.J. Waggoner had inspired pioneering support, since Mrs. White made plain for the first time just two years earlier (in 1892) that Jesus is “co-equal” with the Father (and hence the Spirit as his “Representative” could be nothing less): "It was to save the transgressor from ruin that he who was *CO-EQUAL with God, offered up his life on Calvary..." --- E.G. White, Review and Herald, June 28, 1892 It was a sentiment certainly becoming commonplace among most SDA pioneers before even the year 1900 arrived. Let’s now see more exhibits as coming from the early 1900s.
Photocopy of The Adventist Review, October 16, 1900, pg. 664
Photocopy of The Review and Herald, January 16, 1900, Vol. 77, No. 3, pg. 35 *Here the SDA ‘old timers’ are being appealed to that it is a mistake to refuse to worship the Spirit as a person. See much more on this issue of worshipping the Spirit at this link
Photocopy of The Review and Herald, January 1, 1901, Vol. 78, No. 1, pg. 2
Photocopy of The Youth Instructor, February 26, 1901, Vol. 49, No. 8, pg. 62 *Here it is being made plain that the “threefold worship” of the dragon, the beast and the image of the beast is the COUNTERFEIT of true worship of the “three beings” of the Godhead
Photocopy of The Signs of the Times (Australian), 1906, Vol, 21, No. 29, pg. 364
Photocopy of The Union Conference Record, December 31, 1906, Vol. 10, No. 26, pgs. 1-2
Photocopy of The Review and Herald, January 17, 1907, Vol. 84, No. 3, pg. 4
Photocopy of The Review and Herald, November 21, 1907, Vol. 84, No. 47.pg. 13 *Here it was being predicted by one of the SDA pioneers that one of the “three beings” of the Godhead would thereafter be “discounted” and deemed as merely an influence… despite Mrs. White’s earlier 1906 testimony of there being “three holiest beings of heaven” comprising the Godhead. Oh how that prediction has come true today among the SDA dissidents!!
Photocopy of The Bible Training School, S.N. Haskell, November 1907, No. 6, pg. 94
Photocopy of The Bible Training School, S.N. Haskell, 1910, Vol. 9, No. 7, pg. 13
Photocopy of The Oriental Watchman, December, 1910, Vol. 13, No. 12, pg. 13
Photocopy of The Review and Herald, December 15, 1910, Vol. 87, No. 50, pg. 8
Photocopy of The Signs of the Times, June 12, 1911, Vol. 26, No. 24, pgs. 371-372
*Here in the forgoing exhibit (The Signs of the Times, June 12, 1911, Vol. 26, No. 24, pgs. 371-
372 ) it is being plainly stated in Adventism’s official doctrinal paper that “pure Protestantism” would proclaim the true version of “the true God consisting of three persons” (or “three [separate] beings”), and so no wonder in October 1913 SDA pioneers started to go on record in their Fundamentals to proclaim the same sentiment via the pen of pioneer F.M. Wilcox.
Photocopy of The Columbia Union Visitor, July 5, 1911, Vol. 16, No. 27, pg. 6
Photocopy of The Present Truth, Nov. 27. 1913, Vol. 29, No. 48, pg. 757
Photocopy of The Oriental Watchman, April 1912, Vol. 15, No. 4, pg. 114
Photocopy of The Oriental Watchman, August 1913, Vol. 16, No. 8, pg. 233
Photocopy of The Signs of the Times, January 13, 1914, pg. 8
Photocopy of The South African Missionary, May 19, 1914, Vol. 13, No. 21, pg. 3
COMMENTS There is hardly any comment needed at this time. Here we see that on every continent before the year 1915 (when Mrs. White died) SDA pioneers as “true Protestants” (as expressed in the Signs of the Times, June 12, 1911, Vol. 26, No. 24, pgs. 371-372), they were accepting, worshipping, preaching and teaching “one true God consisting of three persons” (or “three beings”), including the Holy Spirit as a separate “individual” or “personality” of THREE!!! These “three beings” they themselves called “THE Trinity”, even while they were clearly opposed to the Roman Catholic version of that Trinity!! And as one candid and honest anti-Trinitarian made plain recently (in 2017):
TESTIMONY OF THE SDA ANTI-TRINITARIAN, JASON SMITH: “... While it is true that Sister White never used the word “trinity” herself when speaking of God it is also equally true that she never rebuked or repudiated the SDA pioneers who used it during her lifetime and there were several of them. It is unfathomable that she missed all of those references. The truth is that she remained neutral and thus honest logicality compels the conclusion that there is a “trinity” that one can hold to which is in no way a salvific danger. I know some of my SDA anti-trinitarian brethren get upset when I say this but I don't serve them… if there wasn't an acceptable "trinity" view possible then surely the Spirit of Christ would have warned us clearly through Mrs. White’s prophetic gift. This is not the case though…" --- Jason Smith, Facebook discussion, October 2, 2017
The above quote needs no further commentary, except for me to laud the honesty and openness of this dear brother, Jason Smith, despite…. And, by the way, let’s hear the 1884 testimony of J.H. Waggoner on the true definition of the word “trinity” even before the SDA pioneers had begun to supportively use it, and even when they were still rejecting both the word itself and the Roman Catholic faulty explanation of it:
“A Trinity is three persons. To recognize [admit to] a trinity [the true type], the distinction between the Father and Son must be preserved.” -J.H. Waggoner, 1884, The Atonement, pgs. 167-169
See then why they later started to teach the true definition of it; i.e. involving separate beings? I think the testimony is clear for those who carefully and honestly assess the facts! Now, dear reader, it should now become clear that it is very easy to return a “NOT GUILTY” verdict concerning LeRoy Froom!! He (and his so-called “accomplices”) is (are) charged with introducing to and imposing on SD Adventism after the 1920s the doctrine never taught by the pioneers, i.e. that the Sprit is a person just like the Father and Son, that the three beings of the Godhead are “the Trinity”, that they together comprise one Godhead or ‘true God”, and are to
be worshipped as such. The thing is though he was NOT YET ON THE SCENE when all these doctrines were already being taught by the SDA pioneers on every inhabited continent (i.e. the American, European, Asian, Australian, and African continents…as reflected in their pre-1915 missionary periodicals and doctrinal magazines). LeRoy Froom only came on the scene in the 1920s and was active until his retirement in the late 1950s!!
LET’S SUM UP AND RE-EVALUATE: What is LeROY Froom charged with again? One dissident website accused, poster-labeled and described him this way (see the following posters):
Dear reader, simply go back and read my earlier referenced booklet on LeRoy Froom and what the pioneers testified to about “the Trinity” and the Holy Spirit from the 1890s up to 1915 BEFORE LeRoy Froom came on the scene after 1920, and form your own judgment. The evidence is clear for all to see!! What is plain is that, LeRoy Froom himself did not even begin to see at the time that the post-1888 SDA pioneers had already said so much about the Holy Spirit as a separate person or third personal being of the Godhead that Froom’s much hated 1928 book, “The Coming of the Comforter” (presenting the separate personhood or personal being and divinity of the Spirit), it was actually just a *re-affirmation of that sentiment already resident within Adventism!
Today if he was alive and able to search the writings of the pioneers after 1890 and before 1915 via the Internet (using search engines available to us today; as seen at the Adventist General Conference website) he would have seen that he would have had much to go on to affirm his own biblical perspectives on the Holy Spirit. If only he knew then (but of course he did his best as a historian then). In addition, despite the dissidents in Adventism today try to label Froom as “Roman Catholic” in introducing the Trinity to Adventism, yet the historical facts of history also prove that the Trinity was NOT invented by the Roman Catholics, but they too INHERITED the basic teaching from Christians of the first three centuries before them. (Click the link for proof). The Papacy simply contaminated the basic truth they inherited after the fourth century and passed on the *COUNTERFEIT to the world (since they are the great counterfeiter of Bible religion)…as the SDA pioneers gradually discovered!! LeRoy Froom is also accused of misleading the SDA Church with the compiled book “Evangelism”, by inserting “Trinity” headings and labels never used by Mrs. White, and yet all the evidence proves that the SDA pioneers themselves understood and used the word “trio” as interchangeable with the expression “trinity”, and so the charge is non sequitur. Plus if inserting labels in her writings was something not to be done, why do the dissidents read the Bible daily with the word “Bible” on it’s cover, yet that very expression or label (“The Holy Bible”) is nowhere found within its pages, and why do they accept and use the sub-headings (for various Bible stories and accounts), as well as use chapters and verses later inserted within the Bible itself (which were all not originally there)? Seems to me they are simply making much ado about nothing. Finally, they often claim that LeRoy Froom “fabricated” some of the E.G. White quotes found in the book “Evangelism”, and yet as we read the pre-1915 pages of the SDA periodicals (as referenced throughout this presentation) we see those same supposedly “fabricated” quotes being quoted and used by Mrs. White’s own contemporaries to teach “the Trinity” of “three beings”…long BEFORE LeRoy Froom compiled them many years later in the book “Evangelism”!! Click link proof. Bottomline? Whatever may be one’s view of LeRoy Froom’s theology, his personal dealings with others, his interaction with evangelicals in other churches, his books written (like his 1971 “Movement of Destiny” et al), his influence on the controversial 1957 book “Questions on Doctrine”, or whether he was even a Freemason or Jesuit, one thing is certain. He has to be pronounced “NOT GUILTY” for so called “introducing to and imposing the Trinity doctrine on the SDA Church”!!
I have presented enough evidence to render that theory as debunked. And if that major charge is debunked, then it certainly raises questions about the validity of many of the other charges against him, but those I will leave for another time!! As it concerns what’s before us at this time, all we can say is CASE DISMISSED!!
As I close, I cannot but point out to you, dear reader, the sad traits observed in many (not all) of the SDA dissidents who daily act as “accusers of the brethren”. Many of the dissidents sadly display the following traits (*quote from Lazarus Castang)
Let’s pray for them that God will humble them and release them from the chains of selfdeception that they have allowed themselves to be in. I am certainly doing so myself (i.e. praying for them and myself), even as I do what Isaiah 58:1 calls me to do, i.e. lift up my voice like a trumpet, and, speaking fearlessly and frankly, but with the deepest love for all concerned, show my people in Zion where they are going wrong….i.e. living in denial and refusing to accept historical and biblical truth when it becomes evident!!!
I will close with one simple 1912 quote from the SDA pioneers themselves, coming long before LeRoy Froom appeared on the scene, and it’s about the very Trinity they freely worshipped (as seen expressed on page 6 of their 1908 pioneering hymnal “Christ in Song”), with no objection from Mrs. White!! Feel free to read the entire article at the link seen below the quote: “The Trinity. The language of Jesus, " If I depart, I will send him unto you," plainly shows the Holy Ghost to be possessed of a divine personality. The same argument applied to the language, " Whom the Father will send in " my name," indicates the same truth, and thus establishes the conclusion that the Godhead is composed of three personal beings, and that these three are one. The oneness of the Godhead must, then, consist not in personality, but in some other kind of oneness. Let us apply the Bible idea of oneness of individuals to the Godhead, and see if it will contradict the possibility of three or more individuals being called one. We have two visible institutions in this world that are Bible illustrations of God's idea of oneness, marriage and the church. Of marriage, Christ said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh." Matt. 19 : 5. Of the church, Christ said, through the mouth of his inspired apostle Paul, " So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Rom. 12: 5. Christ compares the unity Of the church to the oneness of the Godhead in his last recorded prayer.” ---THE ADVENT REVIEW AND SABBATH HERALD, VOL. 89; DECEMBER 19, 1912; No. 51, pg. 5 http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19121219-V89-51.pdf
----THE END----
Derrick Gillespie is a trained teacher in the Social Sciences, History, and Geography, and remains a member of the SDA Church in Jamaica and a lay evangelist for SDAs. (Contact Info:
[email protected] OR https://www.facebook.com/derrick.gillespie