Sample speaker 1:
So, we have the Father, we have the Son, and we have the Angels. One, two, three. Did Ellen White ever write the number three? Three powers, three worthies, the heavenly trio. These are all good statements because she knew what she was saying. She was not saying God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. She never said that in her life. She never believed it. She never thought it but she could easily say three powers one two three, Father, Son, angels; and for those people that don’t know it, Lucifer is called next after Jesus. Lucifer was the next.
Sample speaker 2 (2 quotes):
We know that God the Father is the highest, the highest in power, the highest in authority, the highest in position. We know that Christ is next in authority as the Son of God, the only begotten son of God and the one who is next in honor to Christ was Lucifer. So the first in power was the Father, the second in power was the Son and the third in power was Lucifer. So the three “highest powers in heaven” were the Father the Son and Lucifer representing the Angels. I think that’s fascinating!
The problem is likely that a trinitarian wants the Holy Spirit to be the third highest power, but it cannot be so—as the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, not a different being. “Satan in Heaven, before his rebellion, was a high and exalted angel, next in honor to God’s dear Son” (1SP 17.1). As the third highest in honor, he was the third in power.
Three Highest Powers, Three Great Powers, and Three Worthies of Heaven….
Note – All of the quotes where we find these phases used by Ellen White are in the context of the Kellogg crisis. (post 1900)
(Three Worthies)
Ms145-1906
The power of God will attend you because you have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and the names of these three Worthies of heaven you can present as your power and efficiency. You are to remain dead unto the world and alive unto God. May the Lord’s blessing rest upon you, and may you have the comfort of His grace day by day and finally shout the triumphs of victory in the kingdom of glory. We can meet there. Oh, may God help us. I believe He will.
(Three Highest Powers)
Lt53-1904 (Prescott)
Every sinner may become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. As a Christian submits to the solemn rite of baptism, the three highest powers in the universe—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—place their approval on his act, pledging themselves to exert their power in his behalf as he strives to honor God. He is buried in the likeness of Christ’s death, and is raised in the likeness of His resurrection. He went down into the grave, but He rose from the dead, proclaiming over the rent sepulcher, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.]
Ms191-1905
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.”
[Matt. 28:18-20.]
Have you been baptized in these names? These three highest powers in heaven are pledged to you if you have died
unto sin, been buried with Christ in baptism, and rise, to live just the same life you did before? No,—in newness of life.
Ms108-1904
It is at the time of baptism that we testify to angels and to men that we are purged from our old sins, and that
henceforth, having died to the world, we will “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God.” [Colossians 3:1.] Let us not forget our baptismal vow. In the presence of the three highest powers of heaven—
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—we have pledged ourselves to do the will of Him who, at the rent sepulcher of
Joseph, declared, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.] Christ forgives every penitent sinner; and as the
forgiven one arises from the watery grave at the time of his baptism, he is declared a new creature, whose life is hid
with Christ in God. Let us ever remember that it is our high privilege to be purged from our old sins.
(Three Great Powers)
Ms21-1906
The Father is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and is invisible to mortal sight. The Son is all the fulness of the
Godhead manifested. The Word of God declares Him to be “the express image of His person.” [Hebrews 1:3.] “God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” [John 3:16.] Here is shown the personality of the Father. The Comforter that Christ promised to send
after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fulness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to
all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the
name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith
are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life
in Christ.
Ms37-1908
“Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.” [John 15:16]
We are ordained unto God to bear fruit. Was this not our experience when we were led down into the water and
baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost? What did that mean?—It meant that the
three great powers in heaven were pledged to keep us so long as we remain one with Christ, united to the vine.
Ms144-1901
Have you thought of what this means to us; that in this prayer is included every son and daughter of Adam who will
believe in Christ as a personal Saviour, and take the requisite steps, repentance, conversion, faith, and baptism? We are
baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and these three great, infinite powers are
unitedly pledged to work in our behalf if we will co-operate with them.
Brother Chapman
14MR 175-180
I have received yours dated June 3. In this letter you speak in these words: “Elder Robinson does not wish me to leave,
but urges that I enter the canvassing field until such time as the conference can afford to employ me in some other
capacity, but states positively that I cannot be sent out to present the truth to others until some points held by me are
changed or modified in order that the views regarded by us as a people should be properly set forth. He quotes as a
sample, ‘My idea in reference to the Holy Ghost’s not being the Spirit of God, which is Christ, but the angel Gabriel,
and my belief that the 144,000 will be Jews who will acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. On all fundamental points I am
in perfect harmony with our people; but when I try to show what seems to me to be new light on the truth, those in
authority, none of whom have seemingly ever made a personal investigation of the matter, refuse to look into the Bible,
but brand me as a fellow with queer ideas of the Bible.’”
My brother, you have asked me candidly for advice. Please read with attention John 17:17-26. I quote verses 20 to 23:
[Verses 20-23, quoted].
It is your privilege and your duty to seek for this oneness, this unity, and thus answer the prayer of Christ. This prayer is
full of instruction and consolation. As our intercessor in heaven, Christ is ever working for the unity of His people. In
order to be in harmony with heaven, we must seek to be one in faith and in practice. …
Your ideas of the two subjects you mention do not harmonize with the light which God has given me. The nature of
the Holy Spirit is a mystery not clearly revealed, and you will never be able to explain it to others because the Lord has
not revealed it to you. You may gather together scriptures and put your construction upon them, but the application is
not correct. The expositions by which you sustain your position are not sound. You may lead some to accept your
explanations, but you do them no good, nor are they, through accepting your views, enabled to do others good.
It is not essential for you to know and be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Holy Spirit is
the Comforter, and the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, “the Spirit of truth, which the Father shall send in My name.” “I will
pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with
you, and shall be in you” [John 14:16, 17]. This refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, called the Comforter.
Again Jesus says, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of
truth is come, He will guide you into all truth” [John 16:12, 13]. …
You need to come into harmony with your brethren. You may take certain views of Scripture and, searching the Bible in
the light of your ideas, may gather together a large number of texts and claim that they mean this and that, and call for
anyone to prove to you that your views are incorrect. But what influence could anyone have upon your mind, when he
takes the same scriptures and interprets and applies them differently? Both of you claim to found your views on the
Bible.