the view which he gave us in the Day Star Extra, Feb. 7, 1846. I feel fully authorized by the Lord to recommend that Extra to every saint” (A Word to the Little Flock, pp. 11,12). In her vision Mrs. White professes to have witnessed this strange sight: “ I have seen that the 1843 chart [upon which the calculations were based] was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered, that the figures were as the Lord directed them; that his hand was over, and hid a mistake in some of the figures” (Early Writings, 1882 Ed., p. 64). Thus the Lord Himself was made responsible for their failure to understand and obey His Word which had plainly stated: “ But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). William Miller did not follow along with the sanc tuary theory and Mrs. White writes of him: “At length William Miller raised his voice against the light from heaven. He failed in not receiving the mes sage [that is, the sanctuary theory] which would have fully explained his disappointment and cast a light and glory on the past. . . . God suffered him to fall under the power of Satan, the dominion of death, and hid him in the grave from those who were con stantly drawing him from the truth. Moses erred as he was about to enter the Promised Land. So also, I saw that William Miller erred as he was soon to enter the heavenly Canaan” (pp. 257, 258, Early Writings, 1945 Ed.). Briefly, the sanctuary heresy is this: The Jewish tabernacle with its two compartments, the holy place and the holy of holies, has its counterpart in heaven; and instead of coming to the earth on October 22, 1844, as Miller had foretold, Christ is represented as making His way from this heavenly “ holy place” into the heavenly “ holy of holies,” there to “ cleanse the sanctuary” by means of “ an investigative judg ment” — an anti-typical atonement. Lessons 28 and 29 of the current Bible correspond ence course called “ Faith for Today,” which is mailed out by the Seventh-day Adventists without their iden tification, describes this theory exactly as Mrs. White taught it in her book, The Great Controversy. I note that Christ is called Michael (p. 2 — Lesson 28); and this explanation appears on page 4 of the same lesson: “Did anything happen in 1844 to con vince us of the truthfulness of this prophecy? There surely did. Just prior to that time there was a great religious awakening and ministers of every faith became intensely interested in the prophecies of Daniel. They were all united in one conclusion, that some great event was to happen in the year 1844. The world was stirred with their message, and multi-
Mr. Figuhr claims their views are based upon Scripture and with this we categorically disagree. We will examine their teachings under the lens of Holy Writ, as time and space permit, in this series of articles. Before leaving Mr. Figuhr’s article, note this comment: “Naturally, what is written in these journals is not always worded as we would wish; nor is the emphasis placed where we would like to see it placed [italics mine]. This is to he expected. No non-Adventist can ever adequately and satisfac torily tell what the Seventh-day Adventists believe.” It is too bad the Eternity editors were not informed of this in advance for it would have saved many “man hours.” I agree to this extent: let the cults speak for themselves in their own words. What we do not need is a lot of philosophizing on the part of others as to what these systems teach. Their own official writings — the great mass of literature circu lated by them over the years — contain the sum and substance of their creeds. Note what Mr. Figuhr says about placing the emphasis, for this is important in Adventism. There is some truth in Adventism but not all the truth, and the emphasis is placed upon the views which deviate from the truth. TTiey believe that they as the “ remnant church” have a special message which includes the Sabbath, the sanctuary and their peculiar teaching in regard to the second coming of Christ. Let us watch for these things as we look at their writings. The Sanctuary Heresy It is generally known that the sanctuary heresy grew out of what the Adventists call “ The Great Disappointment,” their great blunder in accepting the prediction of William Miller that Christ would return October 22, 1844. When the Lord did not appear according to their schedule, some of the Adventists such as Miller himself, Himes, Fitch and others admitted they were mistaken. But Elders White, Bates, Holt, and still others, including the 17-year-old Ellen Harmon who later became Mrs. James White, refused to concede that they were wrong. To cover this mistake, Owen R. L. Crosier in 1846 deliberately invented the sanctuary teaching and subsequently Ellen White corroborated it with one of her “ visions.” They claimed the date was right — but something else than that predicted had happened! In a letter to Eli Curtis from Topsham, Maine, dated April 21, 1847 Ellen White wrote: “ I believe the Sanctuary, to be cleansed at the end of 2300 days, is the New Jerusalem Temple, of which Christ is the minister. The Lord showed me in vision, more than one year ago, that Brother Crosier had the true light on the cleansing of the sanctuary, etc.; and that it was His will that Brother Crosier should write out
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The King's Business/May 1957
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