(Cosmic) Information Warfare: part 2

I will continue to discuss the topic of information warfare. If you have not read part one on this subject, please do so now.

First a disclaimer: As you probably know, I am of the Seventh-day Adventist faith. If you are unfamiliar with us, I will try to paint a first-hand picture for you (and if you google us beware of loads of fake news, 😔).

The pinnacle of Adventism and its theological beginnings was to literally “look a little higher” which is a quote from Ellen White, our founder’s first prophetic vision (yeah, prophet—read Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:15-18) where she was directed to find the Advent people on a road to heaven and not on earth.

I will not talk about the vision but the implication of the statement. When the Adventists of the day “looked a little higher” after the bitter disappointment of a failed second coming prediction in October 1844, their prophecy study and insight uncovered that heaven was actively engaged in a cosmic war that involved the whole universe. They realized God was working still and had more to do before he would come again.

I will also not talk about the pre-advent judgment, although I can see it clearly in the bible in Dan. 7:9-10.

But I will talk about the immense and overarching larger view that was opened up to the Adventists.

They realized there has been a great conflict between Christ and Satan (Rev. 12:7-11). This conflict was over literal fake news that were planted in people’s minds by the old serpent which deceived not only our first parents but also deceived one third of the angels.

The entire universe had been caught in a case of distrust of God himself. Was He really telling the truth to them when He said sin’s (however big) natural consequence is death or was He simply an arbitrary, vengeful, unforgiving, severe God? Is He a liar? Does he withhold good things from his creation? All things that had been claimed by the serpent in the garden and echoed around the universe.

In order to avoid the fake news of the serpent, we too must “look a little higher” and understand what we read when Paul says,

“For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” Ephesians 6:12 GNT

I must say that this conflict is about who is telling the truth. Not about who has the greater power. That is not the point of the cosmic conflict.

The whole idea that Adventists had begun to uncover was the story of redemption. A narrative that began “before the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8; Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:19-20).

This story method had largely been disregarded by Christians at large who preferred to see the scriptures as a book of rules (deeds to be done and sins to be shunned) or of systematic theology that one may pluck out things from here and there to come up with a doctrine on what to believe about a subject.

Applying any of these two methods to Adventism denies its foundation on narrative and the story of redemption and clouds the beauty found in walking and learning through the timeline of history (and much of this story happened outside of this little planet and permeates through scripture).

I believe the current issues the church faces all stem from the lack of focus on the narrative of the story of redemption and too much focus on specific points of a heavily middle ages reformation theology focused on the systematic approach to scripture.

Adventism, Christianity, in fact, any follower of Christ needs to know the everlasting good news of the character of God and missing the big narrative of the plan of redemption makes us miss the whole point of what this cosmic information warfare is all about.

“Through the plan of salvation a larger purpose is to be wrought out even than the salvation of man and the redemption of the earth. Through the revelation of the character of God in Christ, the beneficence of the divine government would be manifested before the universe, the charge of Satan refuted, the nature and results of sin made plain, and the perpetuity of the law fully demonstrated.” White, Signs of the Times, 2/13/1893

Come back here next week for part 3.