We continue with the subject of,

The Millennium and the End of Sin

We continue once again with our review of the following statement made by our Adventist friends:

“Before the earth was created, sin had its origins in the angel Lucifer’s heart. He became jealous of God’s sovereignty and he questioned God’s judgement. He even started a war in heaven (Revelation 12) when he indulged the thought that he could be better than God. Lucifer, now called Satan, started the Great Controversy—a spiritual war of good versus evil.”

Specifically, the idea underlined here that Satan instigated a war in heaven. We have already refuted the idea as some have erroneously surmised from Job 1:6,7 that following Satan’s fall he still had access to the heavenly courts. Both 2 Pet 2:4 and Jude 6 confirm this truth. Nevertheless, there are still some who insist that Revelation Chapter 12 speaks of a war in heaven. There are also various opinions as to when particularly it takes place. We will take a brief look at the three most common views.

The first view, one promoted by the LDS Church is that this war took place at the beginning of creation shortly following the creation of man.

They state:

“According to the Prophet Joseph Smith it was revealed that we are all literal spirit sons and daughters of heavenly parents. God the Eternal Father and his beloved companion, the Mother in Heaven. That is to say that prior to our mortal birth as individuals we existed as men and women in a spirit state and thus coexisted with both the Father and the Son. That period of life was referred to as the first estate or pre-existence.

God’s plan was to send his sons and daughters to earth (the second estate), to obtain a body of flesh and bones and learn by experience through earthly vicissitudes, with no memory of the first estate and with the agency to fail or succeed.

In a Council in Heaven to preview earth life, the Lord called before him his spirit children and presented the Plan of Salvation by which they would come to this earth, partake of mortal life with physical bodies, pass through a probation in mortality, and progress to a higher exaltation. The matter was discussed as to how, and upon what principle, the salvation, exaltation, and eternal glory of God’s sons and daughters would be brought about.”

Both the Firstborn of God and Lucifer volunteered to implement the Plan of Salvation.

“Because our Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be our Savior, Satan became angry and rebelled. There was war in heaven. Satan and his followers fought against Jesus Christ and His followers. The Savior’s followers “overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).

In this great rebellion, Satan and all the spirits who followed him were sent away from the presence of God and cast down from heaven. A third part of the hosts of heaven were punished for following Satan. They were denied the right to receive mortal bodies.

Because we are here on earth and have mortal bodies, we know that we chose to follow Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Satan and his followers are also on the earth, but as spirits. They have not forgotten who we are, and they are around us daily, tempting us and enticing us to do things that are not pleasing to our Heavenly Father. In our premortal life, we chose to follow Jesus Christ and accept God’s plan. We must continue to follow Jesus Christ here on earth. Only by following Him can we return to our heavenly home.”

This view contains far too many idiocies to make it even believable.

First there is the idea of God’s beloved companion, the mother in Heaven, his wife (?) supposedly the mother of human spirits. Understand they are not referring to the holy spirit here as the mother, but to another entity altogether.

Then there is this idea of the pre-mortal existence of man in a spirit state (No bodies?).

The statement is that God sent his spirit sons and daughters to earth as fleshly beings (the second estate) with no memory of their first estate (as spirit entities) so that through experience, the various trials of life they might learn (good, evil, right, wrong), and eventually progress to a higher state. Sounds very much like reincarnation, i.e., paganism to me.

In this physical state they would have the capacity to fail or succeed. The implication seems to be that only in this fleshly or physical state would this be possible.

And yet not only Lucifer but a great many other angels failed.

How was this possible if only in a body of flesh they have this capacity?

Keep in mind there is a great difference between being made a fleshly being (as was our Lord), and that of simply manifesting one’s self as a fleshly being as angels often do.

It is stated: “They would come to this earth, partake of mortal life with physical bodies, pass through a probation in mortality, and progress to a higher exaltation.”

So, what were they before if not mortal?

It appears our Latter-Day friends believe that only fleshly beings are mortal, possessed of physical bodies, that spirit beings have no body. This of course flies in the face of the Apostle Paul’s statement that “there are celestial bodies (heavenly bodies) and terrestrial bodies (earthly bodies).” Rom 15:40

Are we to believe there were two classes of spirit sons and daughters, angels possessed of physical bodies and others who were merely spirit entities?

As far as mortally is concerned we know angels are not immortal (death-proof) as they are capable of death, as the scriptures testify will be the case with Satan and the other fallen angels at the end of the next age (that is with the exclusion of those recovered).

Thus, the statement that Satan and all the spirits who followed him “were denied the right to receive mortal bodies” following their rebellion makes no sense, they were always mortal beings possessed of mortal bodies, howbeit spirit bodies. Being mortal is not unique to humans only, it applies equally well to spirit beings. A mortal being is one who requires an outside source to sustain existence. As in the case of man we require food, water, oxygen all of which are provided for us by our Heavenly Father. Angels too, require food, as so attested by the scriptures. In contrast an immortal being is self-existent and requires no outside source for existence, such beings possess inherent life and are self-sustaining. Presently this is something possessed only by the Father and our Lord alone, but is likewise promised to the faithful over-comers of this Gospel age.

There are far too many inconsistencies here which contradict the scriptural testimony for this view to be viable.

In our next post we will consider another view point as to when this supposed war in heaven took place.