King's Business - 1951-08

Camouflaged SEVENTH -DAY ADVENTISM

Why I

Renounced It, and Why YOU Should

Shun It

T HE FIRST installment of this article established the fact that there is, as D. M. Canright said, “ a streak of deception in the whole work of Seventh-Day Adventists,” and in out­ line mentioned five examples of artifice practiced by the Adventists. These were: first, the so-styled “prophetic gift” claimed to have been possessed by Mrs. E. G. White, the self-named “messenger of the Lord” to the Seventh-Day Ad­ ventists; second, a few typical “ early day” teachings of the sect which were eventually discovered to be erroneous and either played down or quietly drop­ ped; third, some of the deceptive tactics employed universally by “ evangelists” of the cult when publicizing their “ pro­ phetic lecture” campaigns; fourth, the hidden purpose and some of the crafty methods of Adventism’s most successful ■proselyting agency—its insidious world­ covering radio broadcast, “ The Voice of Prophecy” ; fifth, the current nation­ wide drive of the sect to “ sell” itself to others as “a friendly people who want to be friends with you.” The first two of these examples have been considered in the preceding install­ ment. Let us now examine the remaining three. And may our Lord Himself, who spoke of both “ blinded” eyes and “bless­ ed” eyes, give real vision to the readers! (3) The Tricky Advertising Policy Uni­ versally Adhered to by “Evangelists ,” or “Bible Lecturers,” of the Adventist Cult. It has always been the strategy of these “ religious rascals” (as Seventh-Day Ad­ ventist “ evangelists” are sometimes, with reason, called), to enter a com­ munity under disguise. In their adver­ tising, it is a common practice among them to hide their identity, or their sectarian connection, by the use of mis­ leading names. When asked who they are, or what religious group they rep­ resent, they will evade the question, or give some name that does not truthfully identify them and their organization. In this way, they accomplish much under­ cover preliminary work. Their newspaper advertising illus­ trates the deception they employ in pub­ licizing their lectures. They insert large ads containing fictitious titles, set in bold-face type. Such eye-stopping, up- to-the-minute “prophetic” subjects as the following scream across the page: “ Death Struggle Between Democracy and Communism!” . . . “ Will Russia and America Fight?” . . . “ Can Stalin Succeed Where Hitler Failed?” . . .

“ The Vatican and Russia!” . . . “ The Atomic Bomb and the End of the World!” . . . “ Will just 144,000 be Saved?” The name and picture of the officiating “ evangelist” with his associ­ ates in the campaign are prominently featured in these advertisements; but a forthright, equally prominent statement to the effect that the meetings are be­ ing sponsored by the Seventh-Day Ad­ ventist organization is invariably omitted. The so-called “ Bible lectures,” pre­ sented under such attention-attracting titles as those cited, are as a rule held in the best and most advantageously lo­ cated auditoriums or halls, and such misleading catch-lines as the following are commonly used by the “ evangelists” in their efforts to disarm readers of any prejudice. Think of the subtlety repre­ sented in these otherwise innocent phrases when employed by the Seventh- Day Adventists: “ Twentieth Century Crusade for Christ” ; “ Interdenomina­ tional Sermons” ; “ Fundamental in Doc­ trine.” This is Seventh-Day Adventist propaganda of the most deceptive sort. A Seventh-Day Adventist campaign is by no means a true crusade for Christ. Lecturers of the cult do not preach in­ terdenominational sermons. The “mes­ sage,” or creed of the sect is not funda­ mental in doctrine. Oh, what brazen guile! What sanctimonious trickery! Referring to the crafty advertising policy of Seventh-Day Adventist “evan­ gelists,” another has significantly re­ marked that “ this is deceit in action,” and that “ deceit in action is a warning that there is deceit in doctrine.” In or­ der to cover up the unenviable “early day” history of the movement, and to get a hearing for their smoothly pre­ sented, Bible perverting teachings, lec­ turers of the cult everywhere resort to religious make-believe, which proves that “ deceit in action” does mean there is “ deceit in [Seventh-Day Adventist] doc­ trine.” And it provides further evi­ dence that deceit is a trait of the sys­ tem, a “ streak of deception” so deeply ingrained that it can never be removed. (4) The Concealed Sponsorship and Veiled Objective of the “ Voice of Prophecy,” also that of Other Radio Broadcasts of the Seventh-Day Adven­ tists. Just as in the case of their de­ ceptively promoted “ Bible lecture” cam­ paigns, so also their radio work is like­ wise carried on in a dishonest manner.

Second Installment of a Three-Part Series By E. B. Jones

The Adventists sponsor a large number of radio broadcasts in this and other countries, but universally employ mis­ leading names for them in order to con­ ceal the identity and intent of the spon­ sors. “Prophecy Speaks” and “ The Bible Auditorium of the Air” are two of the names most commonly appropriated for masking the actual identity of Advent­ ism’s “ live” local station broadcasts. The “Voice of Prophecy” is the decep­ tive misnomer of its principal radio program, which has been an official Sev­ enth-Day Adventist project from the time of its origin, as a nation-wide broadcast, in January 1942. The “Voice of Prophecy” program is in reality the disguised “voice” ” of the Seventh-Day Adventist cult; and it is a very carefully trained and controlled one, too. It is designed to serve as a good-will-creating front for the system, and nothing that would be likely to dis­ close the broadcast’s sectarian affiliation, or the peculiar and unpopular doctrines of the sponsoring organization, is ever allowed to be presented on it. As a re­ sult of the producers’ fidelity to this fool-the-people policy, they have in a measure accomplished their aim, because large numbers of the program’s regular listeners who are Christian believers have never suspected that the “ Voice of Prophecy” is other than a sound Christian broadcast. But the most serious feature of this whole evil business is not that thousands of gullible persons have been duped by the well-sung good old Christian hymns and by the fine sounding religious talks by the broadcast’s shrewd and cultured speaker; the most unfortunate feature of this racket is that many uninformed and incautious persons have fallen into the trap of enrolling as students of the pleasingly announced “Voice of Prophe­ cy Bible Correspondence School,” and so have unwittingly taken up the study of poisonous Seventh-Day Adventist doc­ trines. To gain this end is the prime pur­ pose of Adventism’s deceptively named and cleverly produced world-covering radio broadcast; and it is likewise the chief purpose of the variously titled lo­ cal broadcasts sponsored by the cult. (Continued on Page 21)

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