known as the Seventh-day Adventist church^® for the express purpose of making it, in a special way, the depository and exponent of this message. . . . We conceive our task to be that of persuading men to make ready for the day of God, by calling on them to accept Heaven’s special message (the message spe cifically given to the Seventh-day Adventist) and thus to join with us (the S.D.A.’s in proclaiming God’s great truth for these days. Holding, as we do, that God raised up this movement and gave to it its message, we believe that before the' final hour of crisis and testing all God’s true children — now so widely scattered — will join with us (the S.D.A.’s) in giving obedience to this message, of which the seventh-day sabbath is a basic part (parentheses ours). Since the Seventh-day Adventist Church believes and proclaims that they are the end-time remnant church, their conclusions are logical as follows: We believe it to be the solemn task and joyous privilege of the advent movement to make God’s last testing truths so clear and so persuasive as to draw all of God’s children into that prophetically foretold company making ready for the day of God. We have now set before you the actual facts of the beginning and present-day teaching of the Adventist movement. We have seen that it was conceived in error and continues to so maintain itself in that it still rests to a great extent upon the writings of Mrs. Ellen G. White, so elaborately and voluminously quoted in their official publications. The fact that their false doctrines are generally mixed with a great deal of Gospel truth in agreement with evan gelicals makes it all the more dangerous. Poison taken in a solution of sweet syrup to dis guise its presence is even more dangerous and just as deadly as when it is taken clear. — M. R. DeHaan, M.D.
can be abundantly confirmed by their writings through out the years; If one is only willing to investigate the Word of God, there certainly is no reason why the truth cannot be known as it is clearly revealed. In conclusion let me again, however, state that we have absolutely no ill feeling toward any individual, and this article is not written to attack anyone personally. Our controversy is entirely with the unscriptural system of error and the deceptive character of many of its leaders. We have written this that we may have our hands clean of the blood of all men. As we conclude this article we hope that you have been able to see that the whole move ment had its beginning in a succession of errors, and the entire course has been characterized by error and mis interpretation of Scripture. My earnest prayer is that God may pluck many as brands from the fire out of this subtle deception of the enemy. God forbid that blind pre judice and religious pride should keep anyone from knowing the truth. There is probably nothing which will blind people’s eyes to the truth of God’s Word so quickly as the bigoted idea that they themselves are the special elect of God, and all others who do not agree are there fore on the outside. However, this does seem to be the characteristic attitude of the Seventh-day Adventist group, as is evident in the book “ Questions on Doctrine.” We quote from the chapter “Who Constitute the Remnant Church?” as follows: ADVENTISTS CLAIM TO BE "REMNANT CHURCH" OF REVELATION We believe that the prophecy of Revelation 12:17 points to the experience and work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. . . . For the sake of clarification, we would give you here the verse to which reference is made (Rev. 12:17): And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This verse the Adventists apply to themselves. Again quoting from the volume on “ Questions on Doctrine,” page 191: It is in a spirit of deep humility that we apply this scripture to the Advent Movement and its work, for we recognize the tremendous implications of such an interpretation. While we believe that Revelation 12:17 points to us as a people of prophecy, it is in no spirit of pride that we thus apply the scripture. To us it is the logical conclusion of our system of prophetic interpretation. Here then we have the clear statement that the Advent ists consider themselves to be the remnant Church of Reve lation 12:17. Elaborating upon this fact, we quote from page 195: We believe that through all the ages God has had His elect, distinguished by their sincere obedience to Him in terms of all the light revealed to them. These constitute what may be described as the church invisible. We also believe that at various periods of earth’s history God has called out a company of peo ple, making them uniquely the depositories and exponents of His truth. . . . We believe that in earth’s last hour God has a special message for the world, to prepare all who will heed it to withstand the deceptions of the last days and to make ready for the second advent of Christ. We believe that He has raised up a movement —
"STUDY TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDETH NOT TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH." (2 Tim. 2:15)
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OCTOBER, 1959
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