SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM continued
"W e most vigorously protest their right to enter and seek to divide our churches today’
the spirit of their teaching? What has been the result of their influence? . . . God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work bears the stamp of God, or the stamp of the enemy. The testimonies are of the Spirit of God or of the devil. . . . If the testimonies speak not according to the Word of God, reject them. Christ and Belial cannot be united” (pp. 661, 671, 691). So if subsequently her writings be found contrary to the Word of God, what are we to conclude? She herself sets the standard of judgment. Also bear in mind that E ternity in the October 1956 issue stated: “ She [Mrs. White] has never written anything that is seriously contrary to the simple, plain declarations of the gospel.. . . No one can fairly challenge her writings on the basis of their conformity to the basic principles of the gospel, for conform they most certainly do!” (pp. 38, 39). I contend that they most certainly do not conform . . . hut the only way to find out is to expose these teachings to Bible light. It was very interesting to me to read the letter from Missionary Herbert S. Bird of the American Evan gelical Mission in Eritrea, Ethiopia, in the March 1957 Eternity. He has reached the same conclusions that we (and all missionaries I have ever met who have had dealings with Adventists on the mission field) have. One of our own graduates on furlough was in the office a month or so ago and told us that there had been no change in the “ sheep stealing” tactics on his field. Mr. Bird rightly says: “We most vigorously protest their [Adventists’ ] right to enter and seek to divide our churches today, and ask us for the right hand of fellowship tomorrow. When they do, they must forgive us if we find their longing for fellowship with evangelicals to have an analogy in the longing of the Russians to ‘cooperate’ with the nations of the West.” I should like to have seen all of Mr. Bird’s letter but appreciate fully that for brevity’s sake the ellipsis had to he used. Now to return to Mrs. White’s vision •— the third angel’s message, which is only a sample of the kind of experiences she underwent and delivered in writing to the remnant church. This book, Early Writings, may be purchased at Adventist bookstores or borrowed from a public library. The Third Angel's Message I quote sections from pages 254 to 258 as I have not space for the entire chapter: “ As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and He passed into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God, He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world. A parchment was placed in the angel’s hand, and as he descended to the earth in power and majesty, he proclaimed a fearful warning, with the most terrible threatening ever borne to man.
This message was designed to put the children of God upon their guard, by showing them the hour of temp tation and anguish that was before them. Said the angel, ‘They will be brought into close combat with the beast and his image. Their only hope of eternal life is to remain steadfast. Although their lives are at stake, they must hold fast the truth.’ The third angel closes his message thus: ‘Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’ As he repeated these words, he pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place, where Jesus stands before the ark, making His final intercession for all those for whom mercy still lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken the law of God. This atonement is made fo r the righteous dead as well as for the right eous living [italics mine]. It includes all who died trusting in Christ, but who, not having received the light upon God’s commandments, had sinned igno rantly in transgressing its precepts. After Jesus opened the door of the most holy, the light of the Sabbath was seen, and the people of God were tested, as the children of Israel were tested anciently, to see if they would keep God’s law. I saw the third angel pointing upward, showing the disappointed ones the way to the holiest of the heavenly sanctuary. . . . It was represented to me that the remnant followed Jesus into the most holy place and beheld the ark and the mercy seat, and were captivated with their glory. Jesus then raised the cover of the ark, and lo! the tables of stone, with the ten commandments written upon them. They trace down the lively oracles, but start back with trem bling when they see the fourth commandment [italics mine] among the ten holy precepts with a brighter light shining upon it than upon the other nine, and a halo of glory all around it. They find nothing there informing them that the Sabbath has been abolished, or changed to the first day of the week. . . . I saw the incense in the censer smoke as Jesus offered their con fessions and prayers to His Father. . . . Many who embraced the third message had not had an experience in the two former messages. Satan understood this, and his evil eye was upon them to overthrow them: but the third angel was pointing them to the most holy place, and those who had experience in the past messages were pointing them the way to the heavenly sanctuary. . . . At length William Miller raised his voice against the light from heaven. . . . If William Miller could have seen the light of the third message, many things which looked dark and mysterious to him would have been explained.” Next month, God willing, we will deal with the soul sleep, annihilation and the law-keeping heresies of the Seventh-day Adventists.
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