|
XV - 08(82)
"Watchman,
what of the night?"
"The hour has come, the hour is striking and striking at you,
the hour and the end!" Eze. 7:6 (Moffatt)
THE PATH OF THE JUST
"The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day"-Prov. 4:18
In Adventist evangelism during its golden era - 1940-1955 - this text was the basis of the appeal to those sincere seekers of truth still in the communions termed as Babylon. Those who attended the great evangelistic crusades were told that there was more light and truth beyond what their spiritual forefathers had perceived - be that father, Luther, Calvin, or Wesley. They were told that the purpose of God for their lives was to walk in that additional light coming to them from the Word of God. They were to embrace God's "Everlasting Gospel" as was being proclaimed in the fulfillment of Revelation 14:6-14 by the Adventist evangelists.
Quoted was the charge of John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, as they left Leyden, Holland, to sail for the New World in 1620. He stated:
"The Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word. I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no farther than the instruments of the reformation. Luther and Calvin were great and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God. I beseech you, remember it - 'tis an article of your church covenant - that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written Word of God." (Quoted in Source Book for Bible Students, p. 528, 1922 edition)
Now this very argument is being used on the laity of the Adventist Church, and is being supported by the Editor of the Adventist Review. During the month of December, 1981, a series of articles from the pen of Dr. Alden Thompson, professor of religion at Walla Walla College, captioned, "From Sinai to Golgotha" were published. The gist of these articles was that Mt. Sinai represented an imperfect perception of truth, and that Calvary brought a full revelation of God in respect to the Law. Scripturally, we are told that revelations prior to the coming of the Son of man, were through prophets "fragmentary" and incomplete. (Heb. 1:1 NEB) Dr. Thompson carries this concept a step beyond and indicates that in the revelations given through Ellen G. White, this principle also applies. In other words her latter writings more closely accord with the revelation of the Cross than her earlier writings. These articles evidently produced a strong reaction both pro and con, for in the July 1, 1982, issue of the Adventist Review another group of articles appear which Elder Kenneth Wood in a preliminary editorial describes as a "P. S." - postscript to the previous series.
However, in heading this editorial explanation, Elder Wood connects this whole concept into the framework of the 1980 Statement of Beliefs which was voted at
Page 2
the Dallas Session of the General Conference. He wrote:
"At the 1980 General Conference Session the delegates adopted a document that set forth 27 fundamental beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists. Last year the REVIEW published a special issue containing brief essays on each of these beliefs (July 30, 1981). The REVIEW stands solidly with the church in accepting these fundamentals of the faith." (p. 3)
What the laity of the church for the most part do not know, of which Elder Wood should be well aware, is that the same identical argument presently being advanced by Dr. Thompson was the argument used by the men who sought to impose upon the church the compromises agreed to in the infamous Barnhouse-Martin Conferences during the SDA-Evangelical dialogue. To this point I can write from personal experience for I was there! I heard Elder R. Allan Anderson state before the workers of the Indiana Conference during a campmeeting while T. E. Unruh was president, that prior to 1888, the church was in a formative period doctrinally, and the writings of Ellen G. White also reflected the same immature understanding of truth, but after 1888 - called the "great divide" (Movement of Destiny, pp. 74-75) - Adventist theology was perfected and brought into harmony with the "eternal verities" as held by Christianity in general. It is quite astounding that this fact was not discovered until 1958, some 70 years later. Then, strange as it may seem references were found in the writings of Ellen G. White written after 1888 which tended to support the compromises made with the Evangelicals in the areas of the incarnation and atonement. Editor Wood knows all of this, too. Now why does he seek to deceive the laity in this editorial that the 1980 Statement of Beliefs as "amended" is evidence that the path of the just is as a shining light, shining more and more unto a perfect day? The 1980 Statement of Beliefs confirms the apostasy at the "Jordan" perpetrated by those who committed whoredoms with the Evangelicals.
Before discussing specifics, we need to review some vital concepts enunciated in the Word of God on this very point. The Word of God is declared to be the only source of truth. "Thy word is truth," declared Jesus. (John 17:17) Further, He promised to pray the Father to send forth "the Spirit of truth." (John 14:17) And "when, He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13) The Spirit did come, and the New Testament is the result of that revelation of truth. There is for each generation what is termed, "present truth." (II Peter 1:12) This revelation is consistent with basic truth revealed prior thereto, but through the unction of the Holy Spirit receives a special emphasis at a given point of time. It follows, therefore, that at some point in human history, all truth and all special emphasis must find its final revelation. That point could only be the generation in the end-times of human history.
It is at this point, we need to pause and consider. The Spirit of truth has warned that "in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." (I Tim. 4:1) Thus we are confronted with the decision as to whether changes in the basic teachings committed to the final movement of all time - the Advent Movement - constitutes a growing perception of truth, or are rather a departure from the truth. Lest there be any misunderstanding on the part of the reader, let it be said at this point - Elder Kenneth Wood, and the Adventist Review perceives of the changes in the doctrines of the Church as formulated at Dallas as advancing light, while the editor of "Watchman, What of the Night?" views these changes as a departure from the historic teachings committed to our trust, and thus cold, naked apostasy from the truth.
Ellen G. White also has something to say in regard to a "great divide" occurring in 1888, or whether the foundation was laid prior thereto. At the time of the Alpha apostasy, she asked - "What influence is it that would lead men at this stage of our history to work in an underhanded, powerful way to tear down the foundation of our faith, - the foundation that was laid at the beginning of our work by prayerful study of the word and by revelation? Upon this foundation we have been building for the past fifty years.
Page 3
Do you wonder that when I see the beginning of a work that would remove some of the pillars of our faith, I have something say?" (Special Testimonies, 6, #2, pp., 57-58) Fifty years prior to 1904 does not take one to what is called "the great divide" - 1888 - but rather to the years following 1844, when the firm foundation was placed upon which the Advent people were to walk. Keep in mind that "building" upon that foundation is not tearing it down and restructuring it!
At the same time Ellen G. White asked the above question, she also wrote - "We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?" (Ibid. p. 55) It is interesting to observe that following the sifting of the Alpha apostasy, there appeared in the 1905 Yearbook, the same statement of beliefs which had been placed in the same publication in 1889 following the 1888 Session. The preface read - "The following propositions may be taken as a summary of the principle feature of their religious faith upon which there is, so far as is known, entire unanimity throughout the body." (Emphasis mine)
Specifics
That the reader might see what the real issue is in the present editorial of the REVIEW, let us note what Dr. Thompson wrote and illustrated in rebuttal to his critics. He declared:
"As a result of reconsidering the story of the prodigal son [A part of the Sinai to Golgotha series], I see some broader implications that I believe are particularly significant for Adventists.
"Two Important ones touch on the development of Adventist doctrine and are best illustrated by comparing Adventist beliefs in 1872 with those voted by the 1980 General Conference in Dallas." (Adventist Review, July 1, 1982, p. 9)
In choosing his illustration from the doctrines of the Church, Dr. Thompson could not have chosen a better, which points up the apostasy, and where it is leading. It concerned the teaching of the pioneers in regard to the doctrine of God. On this point from the very beginning there was complete and unquestioned unanimity. In every statement of beliefs, from the 14 page, 1872 tract, which Dr. Thompson quoted from (See box, Ibid. p. 9) to the 1931 Yearbook statement, there was complete and entire unanimity on this doctrine. These statements in regard to God declare:
"There is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, Omniscience, and eternal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit.
"That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist. ..."
It was the 1931 Statement of Beliefs which first introduced the concept of the Trinity, a term found in neither the Bible nor the writings of Ellen G. White.
Dr. Thompson in seeking to show the growth of spiritual perception in these statements of belief, cites the fact that some of the early 'pioneer leaders believed that Jesus Christ was a created being. It is true that Uriah Smith wrote in Thoughts on Revelation that Christ was "the first created being." (p. 59, 1865 edition) However, E. J. Waggoner took the position that "we know that Christ 'proceeded forth and came from God' (John 8:42), but it was so far back in the ages of eternity as to be far beyond the grasp of the mind of man." (Christ and His Righteousness, p. 9) What then did these pioneers do with their various shades of understanding of God? In their statements of belief, they simply reflected the simple teaching of the Bible as stated by Paul - "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (I Cor. 8: 6)
Whence came then the concept as expressed in the 1980 Statement of Beliefs - "There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons"?
In a book sold in the Textbook section of the Loma Linda University Book Store is to be found this statement on the doctrine of God. It reads:
Page 4
"The doctrine of one God, the Father and creator, formed the background and indisputable premise of the Church's faith. Inherited from Judaism, it was her bulwark against pagan polytheism, Gnostic emanationism and Marcionite dualism. The problem for theology was to integrate with it, intellectually, the fresh data of the specifically Christian revelation. Reduced to their simplest, these were the convictions that God had made Himself known in the Person of Jesus, the Messiah, raising Him from the dead and offering salvation to men through Him, and that He had poured out His Holy Spirit upon the Church. Even at the New Testament stage ideas about Christ's preexistence and creative role were beginning to take shape, and a profound, if often obscure, awareness of the activity of the Spirit in the Church was emerging. No steps had been taken so far, however, to work all these complex elements into a coherent whole. The Church had to wait for more than three hundred years for a final synthesis, for not until the council of Constantinople (381) was the formula of one God in three co-equal Persons formally ratified." (Early Christian Doctrines, pp. 87-88, Emphasis mine)
On what basis do we perceive as an advance in spiritual perception and understanding, the altering of our Statement of Beliefs from a simple Bible formulation on the nature of God to a formulation of a Church Council some three hundred years after Christ? But this is not the end of the matter.
In the Constitution of the World Council of Churches under "Membership," there is prescribed that "Those churches shall be eligible for membership in the World Council of Churches which express their agreement with the Basis upon which the Council is founded. . . ." That "Basis" is spelled out in Section I, which reads - "The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit." But we have not only incorporated the very language into our Statement of Beliefs regarding God as required by the Constitution of the WCC, but we have added a section on "The Church" which has never appeared in any previous Statement. Into that new section we have incorporated the "confession" called for in the Constitution of the WCC. Our statement reads - "The church is the community of believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour." (Adventist Review, May 1, 1980, p. 25)
Now the retiring editor of the REVIEW, having published the meanderings of Dr. Thompson, suggests that the 1980 Statement of Beliefs is a reflection of progress in spiritual perception. Does Elder Wood perceive this ploy to be the means of ending his editorship in a blaze of glory? Is it not rather holding forth from his editorial pulpit, the hellish torch of false doctrine, "kindled from the hellish torch of Satan"? (See TM, pp. 409-410)
The path of the just is indeed a light, shining more and more unto the perfect day, but it is not a light which contributes to the tearing down of the firm platform structured for the people of God, and putting in its place a different platform. Should we not, therefore, as suggested by the servant of the Lord, "repudiate everything" not in harmony with the truth committed to our trust from the very beginning? And this means the 1980 Statement of Beliefs voted at Dallas, Texas.
*******
SABBATH REVERIE
Sabbath evening - set of sun,
All my labor - work is done.
To Thy throne come I now,
At Thy feet in reverence bow.
Toil, heartaches, failures - all
Leave I behind - no recall.
Fill me now - let Thy Spirit be
Rest, comfort, forgiveness - free.
Thy word is sure - come and bless
As I wait in holy quietness.
Let my life and witness tell
That with my soul all is well
William H. Grotheer
Page 5
AN ADVENTIST WATERGATE
In the January, 1982, issue of "Watchman, What of the Night?" (p. 3), we noted the Cease and Desist Order issued by the Attorney General of the State of Michigan against the General Conference and the Lake Union Conference. This Order alleged that the Church's publishing arm - HHES and the Book Centers combined, conspired, and agreed "with one another to restrain and monopolize trade and commerce of Seventh-day Adventist literature and articles as well as religious literature and articles distributed by others." We also noted for you in the same issue that pursuant to this Order, Dr. Derrick Proctor, Associate Professor of Psychology at Andrews University, who owns and operates a book store in Berrien Springs, Michigan, filed his own suit in Federal Court alleging that HHES not only refused to sell to him SDA publications, except at retail prices, but also directly or indirectly exerted pressure on other publishing firms not to sell to him except under similar terms.
In the April issue of the thought paper (p. 6), we reported how the officials at Andrews University placed a gag rule on the editors of the student paper which prohibited their further publishing or commenting on the Proctor case. The editors of The Student Movement had published Proctor's itemized attempts to reach an understanding with the Church's leadership without resorting to redress in the Courts. In that issue, we gave you the address of Dr. Proctor (P. 0. Box 146, Berrien Springs, MI 49103) so that you could obtain for yourself his paper wherein he listed the contacts and the results of those contacts with the officers of the General Conference and other entities of the Church's organizational structure.
We have been informed by very reliable sources that on the night of May 6, 1982, the Library and Education Services building, which houses the book store, was broken into, Proctor's office riffled, and a quantity of stock removed from the building. In connection with this incident, the police have arrested John Bernet an eighteen year old employee of the HHES in the Lake Union, and the son of the Union Publishing Department Secretary. Information available to us indicates that young Bernet entered alone into the building and ransacked Proctor's office. Then to make it look like a burglary went and gathered some of his friends to help him remove items of merchandise from the building. With Bernet, the law officers arrested five others who have been charged with entering without breaking with intent to commit larceny. None of those arrested have any previous police record. Bernet in plea-bargaining with the prosecutor has pled guilty to the charge of "conspiracy to enter without permission," a lesser crime in Michigan than "breaking and entering."
Interesting in this case is the fact that an attorney in the firm of Boothby, Huff, and Yingst was retained to defend young John Bernet. These same attorneys represent one of the defendants in the suit filed by Proctor in Federal Court. Further, Mr. Huff is Vice President for Legal Affairs at Andrews University, and represented the Lake Union in an earlier action.
Dr. Proctor, anticipating such a possibility that his office and desk would be subjected to such a criminal search, placed all the documents vital to his Federal suit in a more secure location, and thus nothing was taken which would aid the Church by the destruction of Proctor's evidence against them. Proctor has stated that he was hopeful "that the church will not continue to defend the actions of those who engage in questionable activities so as to prevent the distribution of Bibles and other religious books." He further said - "I am also hoping that the church will use its influence as soon as possible so that the stolen items will be returned."
*******
"THE GREAT SEARCHER OF HEARTS KNOWETH EVERY SIN COMMITTED IN SECRET, BY THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY. THESE PERSONS COME TO FEEL SECURE IN THEIR DECEPTIONS,. . . AND THEN ACT AS THOUGH HE HAD FORSAKEN THE EARTH."
5T p.213
Page 6
SILVER LAKE - WEST
When the concept of a Silver Lake gathering was born, it had as its objective to set before the concerned people of God, the issues facing the Adventist Church. The young men who organized and arranged for these meetings are to be commended for their attempt and service rendered in this area. We here at the Adventist Laymen's Foundation considered it a privilege to be invited to participate in this outstanding attempt to awaken the Church. This year neither Pastor Jon Vannoy, nor Dr. Kirby Clendenon will be sponsoring Silver Lake - West.
Information we have received indicates that very few, if any, of the original participants will be involved in this year's meeting as scheduled. Those who advocate fanatical extremes, and whose practice involves spiritistic methods are, according to reports, to be the leading lights at this year's gathering. It is true, no doubt, that much practical information will be given. But when are we going to learn the simple lesson from the book of Genesis that the enemy will never abandon the most successful method he ever used - the mingling of good and evil. So those who do choose to attend should be aware of the risks involved.
It is always painful when one must take a stand involving deception being practiced on God's children in the name of the Lord. Many sincere folk do not perceive the deception and thus consider the one warning them as being unduly severe. God has revealed through the gift of prophecy, just what our emphasis should be in this hour, and our failure to walk in that light invites the forces of darkness to come in and take over, disguised as messengers of righteousness. See II Cor. 11:13-15.
*******
"The true people of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord, and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. ... Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the 144,000 who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God's professed people. This is forcibly set forth by the prophet's illustration of the last work under the figure of the men each having a slaughter weapon in his hand." 3T: 266
|