SEPTEMBER. 1946
387
DR. TALBOT'S
QUESTION BOX The errors of Seventh Day Advent ism are many. The doctrine of salva tion by works is believed by this cult, denying salvation by grace. Accord ing to Seventh Day Adventism, the keeping of the law is absolutely nec essary; and believers who fail in ob serving the Sabbath (Saturday) are lost. If one does not keep the Sabbath, even though he believes in the Lord Jesus, he has “the mark of the beast,” and will be annihilated when Christ comes. The system teaches that “the seal of God” is found in keeping the Saturday-Sabbath; while “ the mark of the beast” is evidenced by keeping the first day of the week. Seventh Day Adventism teaches that its members are the 144,000 of the book of Revelation. It holds the doctrines of soul-sleep and the anni hilation of the wicked. It places the writings of Ellen G. White side by side with the Bible as being fully in spired. In this, as well as in other ways, it is like Mormonism, Christian Science, and Russellism, all of which deny the sufficiency of God’s revela tion through His Word, and add writ ings of men to the inspired Word of God. ^ QUE .: If the rich man of Luke 16:19-31 was in Hades as a disem bodied spirit, how could it be said that he lifted up his “ eyes, being in torments” ? How could be speak o f the “ finger” of Lazarus, who was in paradise; and o f his own “ tongue” ? The spirit has a form, just ■ as the body has a form. And the form of the spirit is, in all probability, the form of the body. It is true, the dead, whether in Christ or out of Christ, are disembodied spirits. The Scriptures, however, imply that, while they are without a body, they do not miss the body. In othei; words, they are not conscious of disembodiment. This; is implied in 2 Corinthians 12:2. There Paul tells us that he was caught up into the third heaven; whether in the body or out of the body, he could not tell. If he was out of the body at the time of that experience, he'was not conscious of it. This sheds a great deal of light upon the present disembodi ment of the dead; and this is the ex planation of the rich man’s speaking of his “tongue” and of Lazarus’ “fin ger.” It exp' a! ns also the Scripture reference to the rich man’s, “eyes,” in the passage to which we refer.
^ Q U E . : Why are the Apocry phal Rooks included in the Roman Catholic Bible, yet excluded from the Protestant Bible? There are a number of reasons why the Apocryphal Books are not recog nized by the Protestant Church as being inspired by the Holy Spirit: 1. They do not claim divine author ity. 2. Some of these books disclaim such authority, as seen in II Maccabees 11:23, 15:38. 3. They contradict facts that are found in the Scriptures that we know are inspired. Compare Baruch 1:2 with Jeremiah 23:6, 7. 4. The Jews never received them as inspired. Orthodox Jews would rather forfeit their lives than falsify any por tion of the Old Testament of sacred Scripture. And they never accepted the Apocryphal Books as being anything more than the work of man. 5. The Lord Jesus and His apostles never quoted from them. 6. The Roman Catholic Church re jected them until 1545; therefore, can not claim apostolic authority for them. These books were accepted at this late date because of a fanciful support that is found in them for the doctrine of purgatory. Some of the Apocryphal Books are historical; some are fanciful. A careful reading of them w ill convince one taught by the Holy Spirit that they were not divinely inspired. QUE.: What is the Seventh Day Adventist organization, and what is erroneous in its teaching? -••Seventh Day Adventism originated from the movement of William Miller, who was born in 1781 in Massachu setts. In 1833 in Low Hampton, N. Y., he began to preach that the ehd of the world was at hand. He set the date, October 10, 1843, for this event. Thousands turned to this cry of warn ing, and in ten years perhaps 100,000 people became Adventists. When Miller’s prophecy failed, he set an other date—1844. The failure of the second prophecy demolished the follies of the Miller Movement; and out of the fragments, Seventh Day Advent ism was constructed under the high priestess, Ellen G. White.
^►QUE What is meant by the words, “ Gog and Magog,” in Rev. 20 : 8 ? Ezekiel 38:2 answers your question: "Gog . . . the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” These words refer plainly to "the northern (European) powers, headed up by Russia ... ‘Gog’ is the prince; ‘Magog’ his land. The refer ence to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identi fication.” See footnote on Ezek. 38:2, Scofield Reference Bible. These people ò f Russia evidently will be the leaders of the last rebel lion against God,, as thè passage in Revelation plainly asserts. ^ QUE. : Please explain John 5 :37, “Ye have neither heard his voice at any time.” Did the Jews not hear God’s voice when Jesus was baptized, and “ a voice from heaven” said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom l am well pleased” ? : When the Lord Jesus told the Jews that they had not heard the Father’s “voice,” He used the term in the sense of other similar uses in Scripture: “Hear, and your souls shall live” ; and “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” The Jews did not accept the testimony of God from Heaven; that was equivalent to not hearing, in the sense in which Christ used the term. ^ Q U E . : What is the meaning of Revelation 9:6, “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” ? Revelation 9 is a part of the descrip tion of the great tribulation. The rec ord of the trumpet judgments, of which this verse is a part, is descrip tive of the terrible judgment that will come upon apostate Christendom when the “ strong delusion” of 2 Thessalo- nians 2:11 is on. So great will be the mental and spiritual agony that some apostates will attempt to commit sui cide to escape 'hose days, but God w ill not allow i :em to do so. Let us be thankful that, when those days are running their course,-the true Church w ill have been translated to Heaven.
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