Ellen G. White: The Early Years: 1827-1862 (vol. 1)

Some Fanatical Positions She Met

Several phases of fanaticism had their roots in the teaching of some that Christ had actually come—that He had come to the world in a spiritual sense and was in the hearts of His believers. They were already in the kingdom of God, they claimed, and heaven was only in the hearts of God's children. The only body Christ has is the church. The only advent of Christ we are to look for is in the bodies of His saints with the Spirit dwelling in them, shining out through the entire man. Then when Christ descends from heaven, it will only be descending into the hearts of Christians, the heaven where He now is. The holiest of all, even heaven itself, is only in our hearts. To look with natural eyes into heaven itself, it was declared, is antichrist. This teaching was carried to the point that some declared that there is no such thing as a literal body of Christ and a universal God. To look for the personal coming of Christ is carnal (see DF 158e, The Morning Watch, April 10, 1845; p. 117). 1BIO 79.3