Short History Pt 3

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A SHORT HISTORY

OF

THE THIRD ANGEL'S

MOVEMENT

Pics of the actual book pages mentioned in this history are available at various Appendices.

Part Three of Three

This "fellow Christian" was a man who wrote,

Are Seventh-Day Adventists Christians?

by

Donald Grey Barnhouse

[All bold emphasis his, underlining ours]

"... Dr Froom, in the fourth volume of his work, describes these events as 'The Great Disappointment'. Out of 'The Great Disappointment' grew the Seventh-Day Adventist church. It will be impossible to understand the movement unless it is realised that most of the Adventists before 1844 kept Sunday, were found in dozens of denominations, and had no common doctrine or organisation. In their disappointment little segments of these disillusioned people drew together. One of the segments kept Saturday as the Sabbath. Still another of the segments believed in conditional immortality and soul-sleeping, and a third segment fell upon the doctrine of 'the investigative judgment'.

"The latter doctrine, to me, is the most colossal, psychological, face-saving phenomenon in religious history! It would further seem to me that the various segments, each with a distinctive doctrine not held by the majority of Christendom, drew together and consolidated on the basis of the acceptance of each other's peculiar heterodox teachings. The error of conditional immortality and the error of Sabbatarianism are both well known. That of the 'investigative judgment', however, now requires further explanation.

"On the morning after the 'Great Disappointment', two men were going through a corn field in order to avoid the pitiless gaze of their mocking neighbours to whom they had given their final witness and had said an eternal goodbye the day before. To put it in the words of Hiram Edson (the man in the corn field who first conceived this peculiar idea), he was overwhelmed with the conviction, 'That instead of our High Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth on the tenth day of the seventh month at the end of the 2,300 days He for the first time entered on that day the second apartment of that sanctuary and that He had work to perform in the Most Holy before coming to this earth'.

"It is to my mind, therefore nothing more than a human, face-saving idea!

"It should also be realised that some uninformed Seventh-Day Adventists [including EGW?] took this idea and carried it to fantastic literalistic extremes. Mr. Martin and I heard the Adventist leaders say flatly that they repudiate all such extremes. This they said in no uncertain terms. Further, they do not believe, as some of their earlier teachers taught, that Jesus' atoning work was not completed on Calvary but instead that He was still carrying on a second ministering work since 1844. This idea is also totally repudiated.

"They believe that since His ascension Christ has been ministering the benefits of the atonement which He completed on Calvary. Since the sanctuary doctrine is based on the type of the Jewish high priest going into the Holy of Holies to complete his atoning work, it can be seen that what remains is most certainly exegetically untenable and theological speculation of a highly imaginative order. What Christ is now doing, since 1844, according to this version, is going over the records of all human beings and deciding what rewards are going to be given to individual Christians.

"We personally do not believe that there is even a suspicion of a verse in Scripture to sustain such a peculiar position, and we further believe that any further effort to establish it is stale, flat, and unprofitable!

..... "To sum up, I would say that the differences between other evangelicals and the Seventh-Day position are three.

1. The unimportant and almost naive doctrine of the 'investigative judgment'.

2. The more serious doctrine of Sabbath-keeping which is not sufficient to bar Seventh-Day Adventists from the fellowship of true Christians but which makes such fellowship very difficult because of the overtones of legalism that has a tendency to gnaw at the roots of the truth of sovereign grace to unworthy sinners; and

3. "Finally, the most serious difference, to me, is their belief in conditional immortality (i.e soul-sleeping and the annihilation of the lost). The fact that they can name the names of famous Christian theologians or thinkers who have believed this error is no justification for our believing it, since it so thoroughly contradicts the historical biblical position. 'To depart' is not to be unconscious in sleep, but to be with Christ, 'which is far better' (Philippians 1:21-23).

"In conclusion, I should like to say that we are delighted to do justice to a much-maligned group of sincere believers, and in our minds and hearts take them out of the group of utter heretics like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Christian Scientists, to acknowledge them as redeemed brethren and members of the Body of Christ. It is our sincere prayer that they may be led to consider further the points on which they are so widely divergent from the rest of the Body of Christ and in so doing promote their own spiritual growth and that of their fellow Christians". Eternity, September 1956, page 6 onwards.

*****************

We have been told by EGW,

"Through two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions". Great Controversy, page 588.

1956

Also in that year Pastor R. A. Anderson of the General Conference wrote to Pastor Greive of the North NZ Conference and made these statements:

"For your sake I wish you could be here in Washington right now. You remember the things we discussed in both Australia and Auckland, especially concerning the nature of Christ? ...

"As soon as I returned from Australia I was plunged into the thick of a very important series of counsels with some outstanding theologians belonging to several different groups, but remarkable Christians, each of them ... One of the important discussions was the nature of Christ ..."

In another letter later the same year, Pastor Anderson again spoke of the nature of Christ to Pastor Greive.

"You have asked concerning the nature of Christ during the incarnation. [See appendix M for some 1972 and 1973 Signs of the Times comments on this point].

This is a point upon which many of our writers and preachers have not been clear ... It is a point of faith in which our writers and preachers have expressed themselves very emphatically at times, but usually on the wrong side of the truth ...

"If you would suffer me this little word of counsel as a friend, I would suggest that you hold these thoughts in your heart and not make an issue of them until we as a people have come to the place where we understand this doctrine as clearly as we should, and as clearly as we do other points of faith".

The sequel to this issue with Pastor Greive was that not long after receiving this correspondence from Pastor R. A. Anderson, he left the Adventist church, gave up the Sabbath, and fully joined the Evangelical cause. In an article published in 1958 he explained his defection.

First, he came to the position that Christ did not take fallen man's Christian nature.

He explained that this was the foundation.

Second, he concluded from that, very logically, that it was impossible for Christians to be without sin as Christ was, and to render perfect obedience to His law.

The next step was logical enough too. He gave up the Sabbath.

It is written,

"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God - every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God". 1 John 4:2-3.

That this understanding is the foundation of Christianity is made plain by the words of Christ when He spoke to Peter who had answered His question "Whom say ye that I am?" with the words "Thou [You, a human being] art the Christ, the Son of the Living God", and said, "Upon THIS Rock [the union of Divinity and humanity] will I build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". Matthew 16:18

"The truth which Peter had confessed is the foundation of the believer's faith. It is that which Christ Himself has declared to be eternal life ... In the presence of God, and all the heavenly intelligences, in the presence of the unseen army of hell, Christ founded His church upon the living Rock. That Rock is Himself - His own body, for us broken and bruised. Against this foundation the gates of hell shall not prevail". Desire of Ages, pp 412-413.

1958

In one of the parables that Jesus used to illustrate these proceedings He told us that after the initial invitation to the "wedding", there would be two calls to His church before His servants would have to be sent to "the highways" outside of the city. Matthew 22:1-10. At the first call the story informs us that the guests "would not come" due to indifference, but at the second they "made light of it and went their ways" in a scornful manner.

However, Jesus told us that the third invitation would gather "together all as many as they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was furnished with guests".

Then would come the judgment! Verse 11.

In another parable He sent His servants to "them that were bidden", and when they made excuses because they were busy, He sent to "the streets and lanes of the city" for the "poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind". But after this there was still ample room for guests, so His servants went out of the city to the "highways and hedges" and His supper was complete. Luke 14:16-24.

So, after the invitation of 1888 we can expect to find one more definite attempt on the part of God to rouse His people to their work before He has to turn to another "son", for He warned us that "the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof", unless we repent. Matthew 21:43.

This second and final call began with two men, one in Australia and one in New Zealand.

One of them found the writings of Waggoner and Jones in the library at Avondale College and began to circulate their material throughout the Adventist world. This caused great agitation and the "Sanctuary Awakening", as it was called, was under way.

The other came with the message of Christ's righteousness and how to obtain it, and his news gave new hope to the church for again the practical availability of overcoming was made clear to those who wanted it.

During the years from 1958 to 1965 both Robert Brinsmead and Fred Wright and others stirred the church in their different ways and the result was that many took a firm stand for the truth. But soon the inevitable happened, and the ministers and leading men began to fight back. At first the new light was just condemned, then congregations were warned not to read any information on the subject, and to burn any literature that they might be given, unopened. Private home meetings to study the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy were called "unauthorised", and "secret" even when the Pastor had been invited to come along because they had been organised by lay people.

Eventually there were many church trials for "heresy", and the "remnant took His servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them". The actual punishments ranged from censure to disfellowshipping, that is, cutting the guilty ones off from the register of heaven, as it was believed. But in one special case, the "heretic" was disfellowshipped one day and then invited back to church the next Sabbath as "an heathen man and a publican"! Matthew 18:17.

However, most were treated more savagely than that, with the worst case being when one of the elders stood on the church steps after a Sabbath service and said, "If I had the means I would crush him as I would crush the head of a snake", while he was acting out his desire with his heel.

But the norm was banishment from the church and from any contact with its members. Public defence of one's position was not allowed during the trials because, "That had all been discussed with the pastor". All that was required for the guilty ones to be forgiven and re-instated was a pledge to accept and abide by four simple requests. These were:

1. Do you believe in church organisation, and is it your purpose to support the church by your tithes and offerings, your personal effort, and influence?

2. As a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church can you say that you are in harmony with its accepted doctrines and do you pledge loyalty to the church's leadership and ministry?

3. Will you give assurance that you are prepared by voice and influence to uphold the good name of the Seventh-Day Adventist church in general, and that you will support the concerted constitutional efforts and endeavours of the ministry, officers and members of the (local) church in particular?

4. In maintaining this expression of loyalty, will you refrain from circulating literature or disseminating teachings subversive to, and out of harmony with, the organisation and accepted teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church?

These appear to be innocent enough until it is realised that there is not one word of following God in these requests, nor of freedom of conscience, only of accepting church authority. Article number four required the offender to agree not to talk in his own house at any time on religious matters that the church organisation did not agree with.

Thus the ministers again,

"... not only opposed it from the pulpit, but denied their members the privilege of attending preaching upon it, or even of speaking of their hope in the social meetings of the church. Thus the believers found themselves in a position of great trial and perplexity. They loved their churches and were loathe to separate from them, but as they saw the testimony of God's word suppressed and their right to investigate denied they felt that loyalty to God forbade them to submit."

And that is where we are today! Some thirty years later in 1998 we are still a church of wise and foolish virgins sleeping while we wait for our LORD and the "latter rain". We are a people who often put on the "wedding garment", the robe of righteousness given so freely, and admire ourselves in it. Then, inexplicably, we seem to take it off and hang it up in the closet waiting for the wedding day! But God has said, "All things are ready, Come to the marriage", a long time ago.

"The work of the Spirit of God in the heart will develop true penitence, which will not [just] end with confession, but will work a decided reformation in the daily life. There will be manifested an earnestness, a perseverance, and a determination that can be properly represented by agonising ..." Signs, 26 October 1904, OHC p330

The second and final call is still being sounded to the Advent Movement of 1844, but soon, and none knows how soon, He may have to "remove our candlestick" and give it to another.

1961

While these events were happening throughout the world Pastor Figuhr, the then President of the General Conference, issued a statement in the Review & Herald of 9 November, 1961 to the effect that "Questions on Doctrine" ... clearly sets forth our unchanged position ... and reaffirms and defends our historical doctrinal position".

The stage was set, the fateful hour had come.

Which lord would modern Israel choose?

Which lord would you have chosen?

1962

"Thousands who yearn for the fullness of Christ, with complete freedom to worship Him as they desire, assembled in Seattle, Washington July 2-6 for the tenth annual convention of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International".

"Christ met the people's faith in a mighty way as He poured out His Holy Spirit upon them".

"If you were there, you know what happened. The power of God could be felt as He swooped down in the flesh! If you were not fortunate enough to attend this great meeting, then you undoubtedly missed something that could have meant the highlight of your own Christian experience!"

"The Holy Spirit came down upon the people, assembled in one accord in the grand ballroom of the Olympic Hotel. Scores received the precious baptism of the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues, as the early Christians did on the day of Pentecost almost 2,000 years ago! (Acts 2:4)".

"There were representatives of many faiths assembled for a common purpose: Presbyterians, Episcopalians [American Anglicans], Dutch Reform laymen, Methodists, Lutherans, Nazarenes, Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, - and hosts of others - all meeting at the feet of Jesus".

"The thing that made this FGBMFI convention different is that the people there didn't let denominational affiliations or traditional ties keep them from unity of Spirit or purpose. On the contrary, where else could you go to find such cordiality and unity among peoples of varying faith and worship habits? When you step inside a Full Gospel Businessmen's meeting, brother, you soon know that EVERYBODY [emphasis theirs] are kindred spirits, worshipping Jesus Christ of Nazareth - our common "meeting-ground" among ALL [emphasis theirs] Christians".

"The Holy Spirit is breaking down denominational barriers. As Rev. Oral Roberts - who will speak to us - is used by God to bring healing to the nation, the FGBMFI is bringing the Holy Spirit to the nation. The Seventh-day Adventists are bringing us prophecy. This fellowship is spearheading the greatest revival the world has ever known".

"Dr. Roy Allen Anderson of the Seventh-Day Adventists, Washington DC, delivered a powerful sermon on Jesus during the Tuesday morning meeting July 3. Said Dr. Anderson, 'Christianity is a religion of joy. We need the Holy Spirit in our lives. Only He will set any restrictions that we might need. The religion of Jesus Christ sets the soul on fire. Anybody who really sees Jesus is never the same again'"

"H.M.S. Richards of the Voice of Prophecy [An Adventist radio programme] ... delivered this powerful message on the opening morning of the convention in Seattle".

All the above quotes are from the Full Gospel Businessmens' "Voice" magazine of September 1962. [See appendix L].

How are the mighty fallen!

What tremendous power does the adversary possess that leads men, well-meaning men, away from the truth of the word into such an obvious error?

Why have not we, as a people, accepted the three angel's messages and proclaimed them "with a loud voice" as God intended?

"The question is often asked, Why is there not more power in the church? Why not more vital godliness? The reason is, the requirements of God's Word are not complied with in verity and in truth; God is not loved supremely, and our neighbour as ourselves. This covers the entire ground. Upon these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Let these two requirements of God be obeyed explicitly, and there would be no discord in the church, no inharmonious notes in the family. With many the work is too superficial. Outward forms take the place of the inner work of grace ... The theory of the truth has converted the head, but the soul temple has not been cleansed from its idols ...". Reflecting Christ, Page 208 (DocID: 57388)

JUST WHAT IS THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE?

"There is not one in a hundred who understands for himself the Bible truth on this subject that is so necessary to our present and eternal welfare". 1 Selected Messages, page 360.

"Several have written to me, enquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message, and I have answered, 'It is the third angel's message IN VERITY [in absolute truth]'". 1 Selected Messages, page 58.

"The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken". Gospel Workers, page 161.

Some power has cut the cable that anchored us to the Rock!

WHAT IS JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH?

Where does the message given to the saints differ from the message of the Babylonian churches?

It is written:

"The woman which hath an husband is bound by the law [of God] to her husband as long as he liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband [Note the two laws]. So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress [by the law of God]". Romans 7:2-3.

E. J. Waggoner wrote:

"We cannot have Christ for our Husband, and at the same time be living with the world. But we can take the name [emphasis his] of Christ and at the same time retain the sins of the flesh. But the law will not justify a person who does this - who takes the name of one man, and at the same time lives with another". Bible Studies in the Book of Romans, page 24, General Conference Bulletin 1891, study No 11.

It is written again:

"For I was alive without the law once ... and the Commandment ... I found to be unto death ... For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal ..." Romans 7:9-14.

E. J. Waggoner wrote of this:

"We do great violence to the apostle Paul when we say that in this he is relating his own Christian experience. He is not writing his own experience now that he is united with Christ. He is writing the experience of those who serve, but in the oldness of the letter, and, while professedly serving God, are carnal, sold under sin". id page 26.

Again it is written:

"Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same". Hebrews 2:14

And A. T. Jones wrote,

"For if he came in a human nature different from that which human nature in this world actually is, then, even though He were in the world, yet, for any practical purpose in reaching man and helping him, He was as far from him as if He had never come: for, in that case, in His human nature He just as far from man and just as much of another world as if He had never come into this world at all". The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, page 35.

The Spirit of Prophecy tells us,

"It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Christ accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us an example of a sinless life."

"Satan in heaven had hated Christ for His position in the courts of God. He hated Him even more when he himself was dethroned. He hated Him who pledged Himself to redeem a race of sinners. Yet into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life's perils in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss."

"The heart of the human father yearns over his son. He looks into the face of his little child, and trembles at the thought of life's peril. He longs to shield his dear one from Satan's power, to hold him back from temptation and conflict. To meet a bitterer conflict and a more fearful risk, God gave His only-begotten Son, that the path of life might be made sure for our little ones. 'Herein is love'. Wonder, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth!" Desire of Ages, page 49.

"Satan had pointed to Adam's sin as proof that God's law was unjust, and could not be obeyed. In our humanity, Christ was to redeem Adam's failure. But when Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing full vigour of mind and body. He was surrounded with the glories of Eden, and was in daily communion with heavenly beings. It was not thus with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to cope with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation."

"Many claim that it was impossible for Christ to be overcome by temptation. Then He could not have been placed in Adam's position; He could not have gained the victory that Adam failed to gain. If we have in any sense a more trying conflict than Christ, then He would not be able to succour us. But our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear that He has not endured". ibid page 117.

And finally,

"In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him ... though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered, and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him". Hebrews 5:7-8.

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living Way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh". Hebrews 10:19-20.

So then, the message to Laodicea, the third angel's message, the message of righteousness by faith, the wedding garment, which is to go to the whole world, can be summed up in three points.

A woman cannot have two husbands at the same time.

No man can serve two masters at the same time.

A Christian does not have two natures at the same time.

"O wretched man" does not describe the Christian experience.

The life with Christ as a Husband is one of joyfulness.

The man Christ Jesus has proved that humanity united with divinity can keep all the commandments of God because the "propensity" to sin which was NOT in Him, is NOT in the Christian either, for He is in the Christian!

And this is the hub of it:-

"The largest share of the annoyances of life, its daily corroding cares, its heartaches, its irritation, is the result of a temper uncontrolled ... One smile of pleasure, one peaceful, approving word spoken in the spirit of meekness, would be a power to soothe, to comfort, and to bless. The government of self is the best government in the world. By putting on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, ninety-nine out of a hundred of the troubles which so terribly embitter life might be saved ... The natural man must die, and the new man, Christ Jesus, take possession of the soul, so that the follower of Jesus may say in verity and truth: "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20)". Testimonies 4:348-9 (DocID: 83222).

These truths the Babylonian churches deny in many ways.

BUT

"He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the LORD make upon the earth". Romans 9:28.

1998 - ?

The leaders in the Israel of today have chosen their lord and set their feet upon a path from which they will not lightly turn back, just as did Israel of old. "We are repeating the history of that people", but we do not have to come to their end. 5T 160.

Dear reader, Will you also perish in the wilderness? Although it does not seem likely that the organisation will repent and change its ways, there is still opportunity for individuals to do just that, and God pleads with you.

BUT

"Elijah came to all the people and said, 'How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him!"

"AND THE PEOPLE ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD"!! 1 Kings 18:21.

because they weren't sure what it was all about.

Click here for the booklet "WHICH GOD" to learn the difference between them.

Today, and it always has been, the issue is NOT that Jesus partook of the fallen sinful nature of men without God, but whether Christians are lifted up from that state when they are converted and whether they receive a new nature in place of the old.

The issue is that He and they are brethren - That He has taken OUR nature, our Christian nature! Hebrews 2:11. [See the "Signs of the Times" 1972-73].

Although it is often written that way it is not really the nature of Christ, but its corollary, the nature of Christians, which is on trial!

And what we are missing is the strong belief that the second angel's message means what it says!

BABYLON IS FALLEN!!

oooOooo

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