Kawamoto: I am a relatively new Adventist and have been perplexed by the controversy over your new book. Could you please tell me: do you firmly believe in the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the sanctuary, including the beginning of the antitypical Day of Atonement in 1844?
Sequeira: Carol, I first came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church because I heard and believed the 2300-year prophecy and the significance of 1844. That was my start, and I have firmly held to that confidence ever since. I accept and believe Ellen White's book The Great Controversy, and the importance of the cleansing of the sanctuary beginning in 1844. I presented 28 studies on the sanctuary when I was a pastor in Walla Walla and the tapes of these studies are still available to anyone (1-800-457-7721). I see the work of the great High Priest on the Day of Atonement as distinct and different from His work prior to 1844, and my emphasis is on what He accomplishes by His ministry, not on material items such as furniture or geography.
Kawamoto: I have heard reports that you downplay sanctification, that you believe it is not necessary, that it is not apart of our preparation for entrance into God's kingdom. Please comment.
Sequeira: Those who circulate such reports are misreading my statements. Sanctification is essential for a preparation to enter heaven because it is the only genuine fruit of justification by faith. If I don't give evidence in my life of sanctification, I don't give evidence of justification by faith. Those who circulate these reports are confusing the difference between qualifying for heaven, and a fitness for heaven. Sanctification is making real in my life experience, my daily living, what is legally true of me "in Christ" because of His sacrifice for the world. Those who say that justification by faith is only forgiveness for past sins miss its real meaning. It is pardon but also far more than that; it makes the believer obedient to all the commandments of God. Here is where many "historic Adventists" miss the point—all that Christ accomplished is mine legally because Christ "restored the whole race of men to favor with God" (Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 343); but sanctification is the subjective experience of knowing and rejoicing in that "favor with God."
Kawamoto: You do not quote Ellen White in your new book. Is this because you do not accept her writings as the Spirit of Prophecy, or that you doubt her inspiration?
Sequeira: There are four reasons why I don't quote Ellen White in Beyond Belief: (1) I wanted non-Adventists to have access to it so they could see that we do believe in the gospel and can explain it from the Bible. (2) I wanted the book to be a tool for our own people to learn how to use the Bible in presenting "the third angel's message in verity" to non-SDAs. (3) Ellen White herself challenges us to dig deeply into the Word of God, the Bible, and to base our faith on its teachings. (It's interesting that neither Jones or Waggoner quoted Ellen White in their writings, Waggoner on Romans, The Glad Tidings, and The Consecrated Way.) (4) Ellen White considered her writings to be "the lesser light" to guide us to "the greater light," the Bible. We do her a great disservice when we stop at the lesser light and neglect deep and thorough study of the greater light.
Kawamoto: When you say the gospel is "unconditional good news," do you mean that the sinner will be saved eternally without the new birth and without obedience to the law of God?
Sequeira: No. First, Christ is God's gift to all men, and the gospel is the news about that gift. This does not mean that all men will go to heaven, because God has given us free will. I can choose to disbelieve and to reject what He has already done for me. In the end, God will give me what I have chosen. Secondly, we must make a difference between the gospel itself, and our response to the gospel. God does not say to us, "If you first believe, then I will give Christ to die for you and redeem you." He has already done so! Christ does not die afresh each time a sinner is converted; He did so "once for all."
There is a great distinction between Universalism and the universal redemption accomplished "in Christ." Objectively, God redeemed "all men." In Romans 5:12-21 the word "gift" applies only to Christ and what He has done for mankind, not to Adam. Like any gift, you cannot enjoy it if you refuse it. "Historic Adventists" are not distinguishing between the objective reality of what Christ accomplished for "all men" and the subjective experience of the believer "in Christ." The objective reality is more than merely provisional; they seem to want us to do something before God redeems us "in Christ." But all that He did for us in His sacrifice on the cross was "while we were yet sinners." This is the objective gospel.
Kawamoto: Some of your opponents, one a former General Conference leader, say that you use NLP techniques (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) to plant seeds of disobedience in your readers' minds, so that they will be programmed later to accept the mark of the beast. Have you ever taken NLP training?
Sequeira: No, never. When I first came to America the Idaho Conference leaders called us ministers to a meeting where they had an NLP practitioner talk to us. I sensed something was wrong and I resisted it. When they gave us copies of the book about "Frogs and Princes" I threw mine in the trash. Careful reading will resolve what some think are contradictions in my book. Regarding the mark of the beast, the only motivation that will hold God's people in that time of trial will be the agape constraint (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). The fear motivation will fail.
Kawamoto: Some are saying that your idea of a legal justification at the cross contradicts Selected Messages, Book One, p. 366: "God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place." Can you comment?
Sequeira: There is no contradiction. Whatever happened to Christ in His life and death has legally happened to me. Faith is more than a mere mental assent to that truth. Baptism is my confession of my acceptance of the objective reality of Christ's life and death as mine. This statement in Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 366 is speaking of the subjective application of the gospel to the life of the believer. In Beyond Belief I define faith as (1) knowledge of the truth, (2) believing the truth, and (3) obedience to the truth of the gospel. So Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 366 is speaking of the subjective experience of justification by faith—all of which rests on the solid foundation of the objective truth of what Christ accomplished 2000 years ago.
Kawamoto: Reports are being circulated that you have said that your understanding of the gospel is the same as that of Dr. Desmond Ford. Are these reports based on fact?
Sequeira: No, they are not. There are great differences in Ford's understanding and mine. For example, he does not accept the view—which I teach—that Christ took the fallen, sinful nature of man, nor does he teach the possibility of complete victory over sin in this life and the certainty of such a victory for a corporate body of Christ's people before the close of probation. Further, he does not recognize the fundamental reality that Christ effected a legal justification for "all men" at the cross so that justification by faith is more than a legal declaration—it makes the believer obedient to all the commandments of God, so that it is possible to overcome all sin in this life in preparation for the second coming of Christ. And there are other serious differences.
Kawamoto: Thank you!
Sequeira: Thanks for contacting me directly before passing on these rumors!
(Carol Kawamoto was baptized in 1992, and has been happy to discover that the 1888 message has strengthened her confidence in the special mission of this church. She lives in Chicago Park, California. Elder Sequeira gave this interview on the phone from his home in College Park, Maryland.)