“Holy Flesh” Doctrine
33
In His life on earth, Christ could have made disclosures which
would have eclipsed and assigned to oblivion all human discoveries.
He could have opened door after door to mysterious things, and many
revelations of eternal realities would have been the sure result. He
could have uttered words which would have been as a key to unlock
mysteries that would have captivated the minds of generations to the
close of time. But Christ does not open the numerous doors at which
human curiosity has been striving to obtain entrance. He does not
spread for men a feast that would prove deleterious to their highest
interests. He came to plant for men, not the tree of knowledge, but the
tree of life....
I have been instructed to say to those in Indiana who are advocating
strange doctrines, You are giving a wrong mold to the precious and
important work of God. Keep within the bounds of the Bible. Take
Christ’s lessons, and repeat them over and over again. Remember that
“the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
of them that make peace” (
James 3:17, 18
).
When human beings receive holy flesh, they will not remain on
the earth, but will be taken to heaven. While sin is forgiven in this
life, its results are not now wholly removed. It is at His coming that
Christ is to “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto
his glorious body” (
Philippians 3:21
)....
Again and again in the progress of our work, fanatical movements
have arisen, and when the matter was presented before me, I have had
to bear a message similar to the message I am bearing to my brethren
from Indiana. I have been instructed by the Lord that this movement in
Indiana is of the same character as have been the movements in years
[34]
past. In your religious meetings there have been exercises similar to
those I have witnessed in connection with those movements in the
past.
In the period of disappointment after the passing of the time in
1844, fanaticism in various forms arose. Some held that the resurrec-
tion of the righteous dead had already taken place. I was sent to bear a
message to those believing this, as I am now bearing a message to you.
They declared that they were perfected, that body, soul, and spirit were
holy. They made demonstrations similar to those you have made, and