The Seventh-day Adventist Christian response to, “The Origins of Young Earth Creationism"

Written by: Christopher Sernaque

Several Straw Men Standing in a Field: The Seventh-day Adventist Christian response to, “The Origins of Young Earth Creationism”

Dear Readers,

A Word of Introduction and Commendation

This article is going to be a response to the inaccurate claims about the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith put forth in the video, “The Origins of Young Earth Creationism.”

Prior to correcting the doctrinal misrepresentations of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith, I would like to put forth commendation on the effort put into the production. The audio for the narration was clear and the video moved along at a good pace, while at the same time, succinctly summarized the points that Michael Jones, of the Inspiring Philosophy channel, was voicing. Upon viewing Jones’ “About Page” for his Inspiring Philosophy channel, one reads, “I plan on creating a new video every month dealing with philosophical and apologetic questions.” I admire a diligent work ethic and appreciate and share Jones’ enthusiasm for defending the Christian faith.

This response is not a call to question the Christian faith or the sincerity of Michael Jones, rather this response is a correction of the off-target remarks about several doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church and about the Young-Earth Creation model.

Again, while I respect Jones’ effort to put forward a reasonable defense of his beliefs, as the Scripture commands in 1 Peter 3:15, I politely take exception to the statements that Jones’ makes concerning the Young-Earth Creation model and the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith.

Addressing the Pseudo History in “The Origins of Young-Earth Creationism”

Jones begins speaking about the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church after he poses several questions about why there are Christians who believe in a straightforward reading of Genesis. He raises the questions at 15 minutes and 18 seconds into his video and at 15 minutes and 40 seconds into the video, he answers his own questions by claiming that “In the first half of the 20th century, there was only one group that was mostly comprised of Young-Earth Creationists, which was the Seventh-day Adventist movement.” He then proceeds to say, “The Seventh-day Adventists were considered heretical…” and then lists several strawmen versions of Seventh-day Adventist Christian doctrine.

Putting aside my personal convictions as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, objectively speaking whether or not the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith is associated with the Young-Earth Creation model is irrelevant.

Jones’ concedes belief in a young-earth is not unique to the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church at around 8 minutes and 17 seconds in his video. He quotes from Michael Roberts saying, “In 1550 few questioned the ‘Biblical’ age of the Earth. Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler were two who agreed with the famous Bishop Ussher that the date of Creation was only around 4000 BC.”

While Jones goes onto say that he believes that Newton and Kepler seemed to have been simply held back by limited scientific research on the age of the Earth, this does not change the fact that he has acknowledged that belief in a young-earth existed prior to, and independently of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith. Indeed, the first six-days of creation stand regardless of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church.

Jones’ argument is an example of what is called the “association fallacy.” In other words, the association fallacy essentially boils down to this: “Position X is supported by a discredited Y, and therefore is itself discredited.”

Even granting that the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church is the most heretical, wicked, despotic, and satanic cult on the planet, belief in the historical narrative of Genesis is not dependent on one being a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, and moreover, the historicity of the first 11 chapters of Genesis does not have anything to do with the existence of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church.

The Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church arose as an official denomination in the year 1863 and long before it came on the scene, the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther espoused belief in Six-day Creation:

“When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day. But if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are.” (Emphasis Added)

Now, speaking as a former Lutheran Christian myself, I recall being catechized in Biblical Creation straight from the Bible, the Word of God. Indeed, the very 1932 edition of the Doctrinal Positions of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Christian Church reads:

“We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in the Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty creative word, and in six days. We reject every doctrine which denies or limits the work of creation as taught in Scripture. In our days it is denied or limited by those who assert, ostensibly in deference to science, that the world came into existence through a process of evolution; that is, that it has, in immense periods of time, developed more or less of itself.

Since no man was present when it pleased God to create the world, we must look for a reliable account of creation to God's own record, found in God's own book, the Bible. We accept God's own record with full confidence and confess with Luther's Catechism: ‘I believe that God has made me and all creatures.’” (Emphasis Added)

Martin Luther died in 1546, over three centuries before the rise of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, and therefore one cannot conclude that the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church is the creator of Young-Earth Creationism, because belief in a historical creation week existed prior to, and independently of, the denomination.

Knocking Down the Strawmen

Again, while one can appreciate the enthusiastic fervor Jones’ has, in sharing his beliefs, it is his responsibility to accurately portray the beliefs of the organization his is critiquing. The video, “The Origins of Young-Earth Creationism” does not live up to its responsibility.

Now, I stand not as an accuser of Jones of mal-intent or malpractice. The Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church is certainly not the oldest, largest, or most recognized Christian denomination and, there are multitudes of false representations of Seventh-day Adventist Christian doctrine on the internet, thus Jones was simply misinformed about the church and not actively attempting to lie about it.

Notwithstanding that, Jones puts forward several incorrect assertions of the beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian church, which I will address now:

Claim: “The Seventh-day Adventists were considered heretical, proclaiming things like Sunday worshippers would be given the Mark of the Beast…”

Response: This claim is a caricatured and exaggerated misrepresentation of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church’s eschatological position of Revelation 13. The Seventh-day Adventist Christian church does not believe that Christians that keep Sunday will be lost, or that Sunday-keeping Christians have the Mark of the Beast. The official position of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church is that the political and religious powers of this world will eventually unite in mandating false worship, as in the times of Daniel (Daniel 3, Daniel 6) which will manifest itself in compelled worship, blue laws, and eventually a death-penalty. (Revelation 13:4, 11-18)

Seventh-day Adventist Christian Pastor, Dr. Doug Batchelor, explained the view quite concisely saying, “[Seventh-day Adventist Christians] are just looking at what the Bible says. There was a test in the time of Daniel where an international law said, ‘break the law of God or die.’ There’s a test for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; the government said, ‘break the law or die’. We just think that there’s going to be a similar test in the last day and the Sabbath is going to be a point of controversy.”

Claim: “Their leader, Ellen G. White, claimed she received visions from God where she was taken back to the Creation week and saw that everything was created in six literal 24-hour days…the modern dogmatic adherence to a young-earth really traces back to the visions of an alleged prophetess”

Response: The 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church are, and I quote, “the church’s understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture.” (Emphasis Added)

In a recent video lecture on the 28 Fundamental Beliefs, Pastor Ted Wilson, the President of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, said this concerning the 28 Fundamental Beliefs:

“Now, as you may know, we as Seventh-day Adventists base all of our beliefs on the Holy Word, the Bible, the Bible alone. The Seventh-day Adventist Church does not have, nor has it ever had, a set creed. Instead, we have a collection of 28 Fundamental Beliefs that express what we believe the Bible teaches.” (Emphasis Added)

Below is the Fundamental Belief on Creation:

“God has revealed in Scripture the authentic and historical account of His creative activity. He created the universe, and in a recent six-day creation the Lord made “the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them” and rested on the seventh day. Thus He established the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of the work He performed and completed during six literal days that together with the Sabbath constituted the same unit of time that we call a week today. The first man and woman were made in the image of God as the crowning work of Creation, given dominion over the world, and charged with responsibility to care for it. When the world was finished it was “very good,” declaring the glory of God.” (Gen. 1-2; 5; 11; Exod. 20:8-11; Ps. 19:1-6; 33:6, 9; 104; Isa. 45:12, 18; Acts 17:24; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; 11:3; Rev. 10:6; 14:7.) (Emphasis Added)

As emphasized by the bolded portion of the 6th Fundamental Belief, Seventh-day Adventist Christians believe in “the authentic and historical account” of Genesis not because we are compelled to do so by the writings of Ellen White, but because this truth was “revealed in Scripture.” As seen by the 14 Scripture verses in parentheses following the Fundamental Belief, the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church is appealing, not to the writings of Ellen White, but to the canon of the Word of God. Indeed, the very baptismal vows of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church read, “I believe that the Bible is God’s inspired Word and that it constitutes the only rule of faith and practice for the Christian.” (Emphasis Added)

On that note, I conversed with Pastor Mark Jagitsch concerning whether or not the 28 Fundamental Beliefs were based on Ellen White, and here’s what he had to say, “The 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church come exclusively from the Bible. The notion that our doctrines are based on Ellen White is a misinformed attempt to silence the voice of the church.”

In our conversation he brought my attention to a sermon from A.T. Jones, a leader of the early Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, entitled, “Creation or Evolution, Which?”

Below is an excerpt from his sermon:

“Now in Heb. 11:3 it is recorded that it is through faith that we understand that the worlds were framed—put together, arranged, built—‘by the word of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’ The earth which we have was not made of rocks; men were not made of monkeys, apes, and ‘the missing link;’ and apes and monkeys and ‘the missing link’ were not made of tadpoles; and tadpoles were not made of protoplasm originally away back at the beginning. No! ‘the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’”

As evidenced by the above quote, it is not as though it is only recently with the generation of the 28 Fundamental Beliefs that Seventh-day Adventist Christians started basing their belief in Six-day Creation on the Bible, from the beginning the very pioneers of the church were appealing, not to the writings of Ellen White, but to the inspired Word of God, the Bible, as the foundation for affirming the historicity of the first 11 chapters of Genesis and the Biblical Creation account.

In one of the earliest publications of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, the Advent Review and Herald, this same commitment to the teachings of Scripture was put forth. The front page of the August 15th, 1854, edition listed the following fundamental belief as one of five of the “Leading Doctrines Taught by the Review” paper:

‌‌"The Bible, and the Bible alone, the rule of faith and duty.‌‌"

Prior to even obtaining the distinct denominational name “Seventh-day Adventist”, the church was already making the Bible its sure foundation.

Furthermore, Ellen G. White’s most clear representation of her inspired understanding on Creation, “Patriarchs and Prophets” was published in 1890. The Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church was already a Creationist church prior to the publication of White’s book, and, as A.T. Jones said, Seventh-day Adventist Christians will “be creationists only, and creationists forever.”

Thus, the charge that “the modern dogmatic adherence to a young-earth really traces back to the visions of an alleged prophetess” is an incorrect one.

Moreover, “adherence to a young-earth” is not a “modern dogmatic” stance. The authors of the Westminster Confession of faith were crystal clear in expressing their understanding that the Creation event took place in six days:

“‘It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create or make of nothing the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.’ (Emphasis Added)

Indeed, the Westminster Confession was written back in 1646, long before the emergence of the writings of Ellen G. White, the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, or even the work of Henry Morris, John Whitcomb, and the Institute for Creation Research.

Furthermore, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati, of Creation Ministries International, points out, in the third chapter of his book, “Refuting Compromise”, that old-age views are actually a “modern dogmatic” stance that has been taken:

“If long-age interpretations had always been popular, then a case could be made for assuming that the Bible hints at this. But if they were absent until long ages became popular in ‘science’, it’s more likely that such interpretations were motivated by trying to reconcile the Bible with ‘science’.”

Claim: “The Seventh-day Adventists were considered heretical…elevating the visions of their prophetess, Ellen G. White, to be on par with Scripture”

Response: The Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church does not elevate the writings of Ellen G. White to the level of authority of the Bible. The Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church was founded by four individuals, and we base our teachings on “the definitive revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of God’s acts in history”, i.e., the Bible. The 18th Fundamental Belief on the Gift of Prophecy states:

“The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Num. 12:6; 2 Chron. 20:20; Amos 3:7; Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10; 22:8, 9.)” (Emphasis Added)

As evidenced by the 28 Fundamental Beliefs, Seventh-day Adventist Christians believe that “The Holy Scriptures are the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible revelation of His will.”

Edwin M. Cotto, the President and Director of Operations for the Advent Defense League, has said, "Seventh-day Adventism has never claimed that Ellen White's writings were on par with the Scriptures."

Professor Jud Lake, of Southern Adventist University, in his book “Ellen White Under Fire: Identifying the Mistakes of Her Critics” defines Ellen White as a “postcanonical prophet” and explains how Seventh-day Adventist Christians view her writings:

“Seventh-day Adventists understand the relationship of Ellen White’s writings to the Bible in the terms stated above. She was a postcanonical prophet who posed no threat to the integrity of the scriptural canon. Like the noncanonical prophets, her inspiration was the same as the canonical prophets, but her authority was not the same as the canon’s authority. She exalted the Bible as the highest authority and encouraged to amplify, clarify, intensify, and apply its teachings.” (Emphasis original)

Professor Lake went onto describe what a genuine manifestation of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith looks like, in terms of viewing the relationship of the Bible and the writings of Ellen White:

“In sum, Seventh-day Adventists believe Ellen White had circumscribed prophetic authority rather than the authority of the closed canon of Scripture. She was a ‘lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light’ of Scripture.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church put out a document entitled, “The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Understanding of Ellen White’s Authority.” This document had a section of “Affirmations” and “Denials”, a segment of which reads as follows:

“We do not believe that the writings of Ellen White function as the foundation and final authority of Christian faith as does Scripture. We do not believe that the writings of Ellen White may be used as the basis of doctrine.”

Even Ellen G. White herself did not view her writings as being on par with the Scriptures:

“Lay Sister White right to one side: lay her to one side. Don’t you never quote my words again as long as you live, until you can obey the Bible. When you take the Bible and make that your food, and your meat, and your drink, and make that the elements of your character, when you can do that you will know better how to receive some counsel from God. But here is the Word, the precious Word, exalted before you today. And don’t you give a rap any more what “Sister White said”—“Sister White said this,” and “Sister White said that,” and “Sister White said the other thing.” But say, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,” and then you do just what the Lord God of Israel does, and what he says. {SpM 167.2}

Thus, it can be definitely stated that the claim that Seventh-day Adventist Christians are “elevating the visions of their prophetess, Ellen G. White, to be on par with Scripture” is an incorrect one.

Miscellaneous Claims: What are the Seventh-day Adventist Christian views on race and life on other worlds?

Response: The video, “The Origins of Young-Earth Creationism” had several other miscellaneous claims about Seventh-day Adventist Christian beliefs. With regard to our views on race, the Seventh-day Adventist Christian church release an official statement on Racism, which reads:

“One of the odious evils of our day is racism, the belief or practice that views or treats certain racial groups as inferior and therefore justifiably the object of domination, discrimination, and segregation…The Seventh-day Adventist Church deplores all forms of racism, including the political policy of apartheid with its enforced segregation and legalized discrimination.”

An in-depth discussion on racism and the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church can be found in the interview that Pastor Ivor Myers, of Power of the Lamb Ministries, did on the Pilate’s Interview podcast.

It should also be noted that, according to Pew Research, the Seventh-day Adventist Christian church is the most racially diverse Protestant Church.

Additionally, with regard to the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church’s position on Unfallen Worlds, this view was likewise shared by Charles Spurgeon, known by many as the “Prince of Preachers” because of his great influence. Spurgeon writes:

“Shall we be witnesses for the Lord of grace to myriads of worlds which will be wonderstruck when they hear of the incarnate God? Shall we be surrounded by pure intelligences enquiring and searching into the mysteries of God manifest in the flesh? Will the unfallen worlds desire to be instructed in the glorious gospel of the blessed God? And will each one of us have his tale to tell of our experience of infinite love? I think so, since the Lord has saved us ‘to that intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be known by the church of the manifold wisdom of God’”

More information on this subject can be found in the episode “Did God Create Life on Other Worlds?” in the Genesis Under a Microscope micro-teaching series.

However, more important than the views of Spurgeon or the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church are the views of Jesus. Thus, the question is begged, what does Christ Jesus have to say about the historicity of Genesis?

Jesus had a Historical View of Genesis

A Christian is a follower of Christ Jesus. (Acts 11:26, Matthew 16:24) Because Jesus is God, the creator of Heaven and Earth, His view on Genesis’ historicity is definitive in every sense of the word. (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16) Jesus, in an abundance of instances throughout the New Testament, referred to the events and figures of Genesis as a historical reality. Jesus, in the oldest of the four Gospels, the Gospel according to Mark, expounds upon the tribulation and references the miraculous creation of the Earth by God. (Mark 13:19) Putting eschatological differences to the side, in this passage, Jesus is referring to a coming event in history while simultaneously referencing the Genesis account of Creation as an authentic historical account.

Earlier in the book of Mark, Jesus refers to the creation of Adam and Eve as a basis for the marriage union; this teaching of Christ is likewise echoed in the book of Matthew. (Mark 10:6-7, Matthew 19:4-5) Jesus, similarly grounds the basis for the reality of human worth in the fact of a six-day Creation because human beings are not mere products of nature, we are all made in the image of God. (Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, and Luke 20:25) Speaking of the preciousness of human life, Jesus references Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, as the first of the martyrs, and gives no intimation that He regards Abel as anything other than a historical figure, like Zechariah. (Matthew 23:35, Luke 11:51) Likewise, Jesus cites the historical figure Noah and the events of the Genesis Flood when expanding upon the nature of His Second Advent. (Matthew 24:37-39, Luke 17:26-27)

From these several instances described above, Jesus viewed the book of Genesis as a historical record. Further, the Biblical text does not give grounds to believe that Jesus, in His First Advent Incarnation, was unknowingly teaching falsehood about Creation. In light of Jesus’ statements on Genesis, this already significant passage from the Gospel according to John becomes all the more important:

“If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:47-50)

Jesus, God incarnate, believed that the book of Genesis, including the now oft maligned first 11 chapters, is an accurate account of historical events.

The Canon and Creation

The rest of the New Testament is not silent either on the historicity of the events and figures recorded in the account of Genesis. The Apostle Paul references Abel, Cain, Enoch, and Noah, all of whom are figures from the first 11 chapters of Genesis, right alongside Abraham and Sarah, King David and Samuel, and other historical figures. (Hebrews 11)

Old Testament authors, such as Isaiah and Ezra, who was likely the author of Chronicles (Nehemiah 12:26), likewise treat the first 11 chapters of Genesis as historical accounts. (1 Chronicles 1:1-27, Isaiah 54:9) Nehemiah extols God for His creative power, showing how integral his believe in Creation was to his faith in God. (Nehemiah 9:6)

Hebrew Scholarship and the Historicity of Genesis

While a scholar’s opinion on a text of the Bible is certainly not, as the saying goes, “Gospel Truth”, modern scholarship attests to the fact that the Biblical authors regarded Genesis as historical narrative.

Professor James Barr, a neo-orthodox Hebrew scholar from Oxford University stated, “So far as I know there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) [sic] of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience; (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provide by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to the later stages of the Biblical story, and (c) Noah’s flood was understood to be worldwide, and to have extinguished all human and land animal life except for those in the ark.” (Platinga, 2001, p. 217)

In similar fashion, Gavin Cox, theologian and Egyptologist, states, “The biblical world-view only makes sense when the biblical time-frame is upheld, of a recent (6,000 year-old), 6-day creation, described as “very good” by God (Genesis 1:31), without death, bloodshed, or suffering… Such fundamental theology is founded upon the historical foundations laid in Genesis 3 and built upon by Paul in Romans 5:12 ̶ 21, where he, by Divine inspiration clearly states that death came through the sin of Adam… Scripture is very clear that sin and death effected the entire creation because of the Fall of Adam and Eve. There is no getting around these clear and repeated statements in Scripture that are directly contrasted with the person and work of Christ who brings life and forgiveness of sin.”

Indeed, the Creation account of Genesis is real history.

The Story Behind the Story

A more in-depth response to this video will be put forth eventually; I may end up addressing some of these points in an upcoming discussion I am going to have with an Old-Earth Creationist Christian and in a lecture that I will be presenting for the Advent Defense League.

Concerning myself, I was a Creationist before I had ever even heard of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith. Though my Father had been raised as a Roman Catholic Christian, both he and my Mother had agreed to raise my siblings and I in the Lutheran Christian Church. We attended church faithfully every Sunday, and of course on Christmas and Easter. My Father and Mother were a part of the church council and my Mother taught the elementary age children in Sunday school.

Upon going to a public elementary school, I first became interested in the origins discussion when I went to the library for the first time. I immediately raced over to a book with a yellow cover, as yellow was and is, my favorite color. Lo and behold, this book introduced me to the pterodactyl, the “winged lizards” of the late Jurassic period. I checked the book out several times and became fascinated with the materials. However, I recognized a contradiction. Each of the books that I checked out chronicled a worldview that began with the big bang, proceeded with the evolution of life on earth and humans, and ended with the heat-death of the universe.

I recognized that this model taught that human beings evolved and thus shared a common ancestor with, not only apes and chimpanzees, but with all life on Earth. In other words, human beings were not made from the dust of the ground as recorded in Genesis 1 and 2.

I submit that one cannot reconcile these aforementioned ideas with the record of Scripture because the text directly contradicts these statements, and even proposes a different order of events, as I outlined in the second episode of the Genesis Under a Microscope series.

Speaking of which, there are several other videos in the Genesis Under a Microscope series, such as my video on Distant Starlight, or my Pilate’s Interview podcast interview with Dr. Trim on Creation that further clarify the Seventh-day Adventist Christian’s view on Creation.

The Conclusion of the Matter

I submitted this paper to Professor Jud Lake, who generously took the time to review it. We spoke over the phone and upon telling Professor Jud Lake about how the Seventh-day Adventist faith was credited with essentially “creating” the Creation model, he chuckled and said that the fact that Seventh-day Adventists are recognized for a firm belief in the six-days of Creation, is actually a great compliment. Indeed, Professor Lake, myself, and the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church are not ashamed to proclaim:

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 100:3)

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