SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM continued
Seventh-day Adventists teach that no man can keep justified before God without keeping the law
tudes mistakenly believed that the world would end in the year A.D. 1844. The world did not end as they had predicted, but instead Jesus began the work of cleansing sin from the heavenly records of forgiven sinners. Those whose names are retained in the book of life will be citizens of the kingdom of heaven.” Since there is nothing here to indicate that it was this very first group of Adventists who began this and since these lessons are not marked as Seventh-day Adventist literature, untaught people are being indoc trinated with these teachings without being aware of what they are getting into. The Adventists loudly proclaim that they believe in a completed, finished atonement. Here is a refuta tion of this from Lesson 28, page 3 of this same Adventist correspondence course: “ It was on the cross that Jesus paid the price of the covenant for our return to God. Then He entered heaven to complete our atonement with God. It is at the Father’s throne that He makes an end of atonement. This cannot be completed until the last repentant sinner has been justified by the grace and mercy of God through ac ceptance of Christ as his personal Saviour” (italics are mine). Uriah Smith, a prominent Adventist of the past, stated in his book, Looking Unto Jesus: “ Christ did not make the atonement when He shed His blood upon the cross” (p. 237). A former president of the Adventists’ General Conference, C. H. Watson, wrote in The Atoning Work of Christ: “ It is impossible to conclude that a complete work of atoning for sin was wrought upon the cross. . . . the work of the atonement must continue as long as probationary time shall last” (pp. 95,113). I shall reproduce one of Mrs. White’s visions in which the sanctuary is featured at the close of this article. Meantime here are a few sentences from her book, The Great Controversy: “ Important truths con cerning the atonement are taught by the typical service. A substitute was accepted in the sinner’s stead; but the sin was not canceled by the blood of the victim. A means was thus provided by which it was trans ferred to the sanctuary. By the offering of blood the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law, con fessed his guilt in transgression, and expressed his desire for pardon through faith in a Redeemer to come; but he was not yet entirely released from the condemnation of the law” (p. 420). Then she makes the application to Christ and the Christian: “ And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by removal, or blot ting out, of the sins which are there recorded. But before this can be accomplished, there must be an
examination of the books to determine who through repentance of sin and faith in Christ are entitled to the benefits of His atonement” (pp. 421, 422). In an excellent tract entitled, “ Seventh-day Advent ists and Atonement” * published by my good friends, Loizeaux Brothers, appears this comment on these words of Mrs. White: “ ‘A substitute was accepted in the sinner’s stead, but the sin was not canceled by the blood of the victim,’ says Mrs. White. And this in the face of Leviticus 17:11: ‘It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.’ ‘Without shedding of blood is no remission’ (Heb. 9:22), and ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7). ‘A means was thus provided by which it was transferred to the sanctuary,’ we are told. Thus is the precious blood of Christ only a means of carry- ing sins into the holy of holies — the very presence of God, and not making atonement for them. . . . If this be true, Paul was quite mistaken when he wrote to the Hebrews about the Lord as High Priest who by His own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us ‘now to appear in the presence of God for us’ (Heb. 9:24).” My friends, this is not evangelical truth. No matter how much the Adventists protest that they teach the gospel, as long as this heresy constitutes a part of their doctrine, there is no possibility of fellowship with them in the work of Christ. Investigative Judgment “ The investigative judgment” is the Adventist- coined term used to describe the work now supposedly being performed by the Lord Jesus Christ in this sec ond compartment of the “heavenly sanctuary,” the holy of holies. Indeed, according to this teaching, He has been engaged in this task since October 22, 1844! Of course, it is all fancy without a verse of Scripture to support its absurdities. I will let one of the best-known Adventist writers explain it in his own words from his book, Drama of the Ages which was recently awarded as a book-of- the-month premium to students of the Voice of Prophecy Adventist correspondence course. I refer to W. H. Branson, a past president of the sect, who was selected by the Adventists to answer Mr. D. M. Can- right, a former Adventist, who had renounced the cult, had exposed their errors and had written some of the best exposes obtainable in such books as Seventh- day Adventism Renounced and Life of Mrs. E. G. White, etc. No other writer has done so much to help others find the way out of this system, with the exception of Rev. E. B. Jones of the present day whose books are masterful analyses of the system. He too
‘ Obtainable from Loizeaux Brothers, 19 W. 21st St., New York, N.Y.
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