Five Popular Myths about Last Generation Theology

In certain circles of contemporary Adventism, what has come to be known in recent years as Last Generation Theology has become an epithet. Punctuated with quotation marks, dismissive scorn, and the taint of implied extremism, this belief is noted by certain ones as an example of a thought system which Biblically informed, theologically mature, and spiritually balanced Adventists should rightfully shun.

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The Brinsmead Heresy and Last Generation Theology, Part 3

In this third installment of our series on the heresy taught by Robert Brinsmead during the 1960s—which, as we have seen, attempted to combine the classic Adventist paradigm many call Last Generation Theology with the doctrine of original sin as taught by Augustine and the magisterial Reformers—we will consider what is taught by the inspired writings regarding preparation for the end-time sealing, an event inspired writings place just before the close of probation. We will especially consider whether, according to the inspired pen, the sealing/latter rain experience involves any change in the believer beyond a settling and confirmation of an experience already possessed.

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The Brinsmead Heresy and Last Generation Theology, Part 2

In the first installment of this series, we reviewed the unique twist given to the classic Adventist understanding of Last Generation Theology by the teachings of one Robert Brinsmead, during the so-called Awakening movement he led during the 1960s. We noted that this twist was based on Brinsmead’s attempt to unite this classic Adventist teaching with what is known in Christian theology as the doctrine of original sin. This doctrine, as we also noted, teaches that the sinful nature human beings inherit at birth is the same as sin itself—that human beings, in other words, are born sinners.

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The Brinsmead Heresy and Last Generation Theology

Many are familiar with Ellen White’s statement, “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history” (1).  Unfortunately, a few contemporary Adventists in the conservative theological camp are seeking to revive a heresy many today probably don’t remember—the teachings of Robert Brinsmead during the 1960s, which attempted to marry the doctrine of original sin, as taught by many of the Protestant Reformers, to the classic Adventist doctrine of a perfected final generation hastening the return of Jesus.

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The Futile Quest for Neutrality

The book The Reformation and the Remnant: The Reformers Speak to Today’s Church, penned by a lawyer-turned-theologian currently serving as a professor of church history at the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University, seeks to address a cluster of contemporary Adventist issues both from the perspective of Protestant Reformation history and a focus on ideological positioning so far as various convictions in the contemporary church are concerned.  References to “liberals,” “fundamentalists,” and “centrists” abound throughout the book with regard to different ideas and their alleged place on contemporary Adventism’s spectrum of thought.

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