Seventh Day-Adventists Believe: Part 3

WALTER MARTIN’S 1983 LECTURE

 On February 22, 1983, Walter Martin gave a lecture in Napa, California, which we transcribed and printed on pages 68-71 of The Evangelical Conferences, a 120-page tractbook documentary on the entire Martin-Barnhouse talks with our leaders in the mid -1950’s, and the books, magazine articles, and furor that followed it for over 20 years.

In that lecture, Dr. Martin flatly stated that the Seventh-day Adventist denomination was in danger of repudiating the Evangelical doctrines it espoused in the book, Questions on Doctrine. He said that he was in the process of making contact with our church leaders in Washington D.C. and urging them to reprint that book. He mentioned that they had not yet replied to his request, but he said that he accompanied it with a threat to publish piles of material that had been sent him against the Adventist Church if they did not do so.

Now that this new book, Seventh-day Adventists Believe has been printed—and mirrors so closely the errors found in Questions on Doctrine,—the very real question confronts us at this time whether it is possible that THIS NEW BOOK is the means our church leaders are using to satisfy the demands of Dr. Martin, while at the same time satisfying the demands of our own people not to reprint Questions on Doctrine.

Here are excerpts from that 1983 talk by Dr. Martin, a more complete copy of which is to be found in our tractbook documentary, named above.

In that book I discussed various cult structures, and one of the groups that I mentioned was the Seventh-day Adventists. I was contacted shortly afterwards by a very fine Christian man now with the Lord, T. E. Unruh, a Seventh-day Adventist. He was concerned that I, an expert on cults, would classify him and Seventh-day Adventists along with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, and Christian Science. He asked for a meeting so we could talk about it. I said: I’m always interested in truth, always interested in examine facts and evidence; yes, I’d be glad to meet with you. I met with him; and that meeting let to another series of meetings with a committee appointed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (which is the highest government body of the Adventist denomination).

We met together. We proceeded to discuss together issues of Seventh-day Adventism. This was the first time that this had ever happened in the history of that denomination. As a result of it, after these got going, the then president of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, Reuben Figuhr (who is still alive) appointed this study for the purpose of arriving at an area of discussion and of truth, so that there would be a bridge between Evangelical Christianity and Seventh-day Adventism, and that the communication gap could be bridged.

Now these meetings went on over a period of two years. Literally hundreds and hundreds of hours of work and research were gone into it.

It seemed that it would be a good idea to publish a book on the subject that would answer questions about Seventh-day Adventist theology. I went with this proposal to Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, my teacher, who was absolutely convinced that Seventh-day Adventism was a non-Christian cult, and thought I had lost whatever reasoning I had by coming back with material that indicated otherwise.

We had a long session and Dr. Barnhouse said: "I think you should investigate this further." So with that I proceeded to meet with the Adventists—with Professor George Cannon, with the great Adventist historian, Professor Leroy Froom; W. E. Read, one of the top researchers of Old Testament material; T. E. Unruh, one of their conference presidents; and of course, with Roy Allan Anderson, Editor of the "Ministry Magazine."

It was agreed that my book, "The Truth About Seventh-day Adventism," would be released in Seventh-day Adventist bookstores. It was agreed that we would push their volume in Evangelical bookstores, so that more than four-thousand stores could get the information, and get it through the Adventists and through the Evangelicals. It was not a tiny project. It was a great project. It had the support of the president of the General Conference and the committees he personally appointed. We had cooperation from everybody in attempting it. It was not considered to be a new statement of faith but an expansion of what they considered to be historic Seventh-day Adventism.

Now we learned early on in our discussions that there was a division in Seventh-day Adventism that had to be recognized. There was a lunatic fringe that believed doctrines that appalled even the Adventists. And I came in one day with a suitcase, literally a suitcase, full of publications from Adventist publishing houses. Before I opened the suitcase, I said to my brothers on the committee, do you know that your denomination teaches these things? And I listed them, and they were appalled. I said I have the mark of the beast, and they looked at each other and said~ "Impossible!" I said, "Well I have." I said, "I have been told that by three Adventist publishing houses." "NO!" I said, "Yes." I said, "It gets even worse brothers. It says here in your publications that Jesus didn’t complete the atonement on the cross. It says here in your publication—and I went down the line on the subject. "Impossible!" I said, "Alright," I said, "Look in the suitcase." So I put the suitcase up on the table and spread out about two hundred documents. And they spent a couple of days going through the documents. When they came back, they said, "Who would ever have believed that all of this was in print." and; "We certainly have to do something about it immediately." I said, "Good! But this is what is confusing the whole Evangelical world and this is what is confusing the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. You’ve got to speak with one voice on the great foundations of the gospel. You’ve got to speak with one voice so the sheep (the people) can hear it. And there are problems. You must face them."

WALTER R MARTIN

"WE MUST HELP THE ADVENTISTS SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM"

February 22, 1983—Napa, California

In 1955 I published a book called "The Rise of The Cults." 

They were very responsive, and we entered into work in earnest. "Questions on Doctrine" was published. It was a great success. More than 150,000 copies went forth. And then strange things began to happen. I published my book about Seventh-day Adventism, and the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists refused to put it in Adventist book stores. That was our first clue that there were some problems on high levels. Secondly we began to find out that there were Adventists writing us, who were saying; "This is not what the Adventist Church really believes.

You have been deceived." And they gave us information Then other ministers and others began to come to us giving us more in-formation. We went back over the information. It was a great sifting process.

Then we began to realize that a great body of information was beginning to surface, and progressively it has over the years. I could not bring here tonight all of the material which I have collected now and preach in the Search Institute. Suffice it to say there are four cartons, that would be stacked up to the height of this pulpit, of material which is coming from Adventists all over the world, pointing out to us things which are still inconsistent in the denomination.

What I want to begin with is to tell you, that there are Seventh-day Adventists, a great body of them, who are born-again Christians, and love the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. That is absolutely true. In fact some of the Adventists are here tonight. Then there are some important representatives of Seventh-day Adventism who are at this point beginning to move the denomination back from where they came in 1957.

 This group believes that Jesus Christ had a sinful human nature. This group believes that the atonement was not completed on the cross. This group believes that Ellen G. White is not only a prophetess of God, but that Ellen G. White was an infallible interpreter of the Bible,

A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and among his own people, she [Ellen White said. The Scripture also says that a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph, which means there have been some very subtle and progressive changes going on in Seventh-day Adventism theology. They have reached a crisis point.

It is not a small group of people anymore that are disenchanted. We have hundreds and hundreds of letters from Adventist pastors, missionaries, and leaders. They are more than disenchanted with some of the things that they are seeing. We also have a body of information now which originally the denomination denied existed but which now exists, and is documented evidence. It is therefore very important to understand that our Seventh-day Adventist brothers and sisters, who want to stay with "Questions on Doctrine" are sticking with what I was told, and Dr. Barnhouse was told and the Evangelical world was told in 1957 and through 1960.

These people are in great jeopardy right now. They need a lot of prayer and a lot of support, because they are trying to hang on to the basic foundations, whereas an "old guard" with Seventh-day Adventism in positions of power and authority are very systematically rooting out the people that do not agree with this. That is simply going right now, and it is denied as absolute folly.

The core of the entire problem is the role of Ellen G. White in Seventh-day Adventism and the Sanctuary doctrine, which has generated enormous controversy. Now, tonight we don’t have time to go through four boxes of material. We do not have time to review all the problems connected with Adventist theology.

This is very important: If you have an infallible interpreter then you have developed a paper pope - Now the move is afoot to establish the papacy of Mrs. White, and that move is deadly.

The claim was made for Mrs. White in "Questions on Doctrine" and in Adventist publications, that she is not a canonical writer of scripture . - that is the claim in "Questions on Doctrine."

I was originally told by some Seventh-day Adventists, that in the early days of the Church, they maintained that they were the "Remnant Church," to the exclusion of all others. I said that’s heresy, there is no remnant church, there is only the body of Christ. You can talk about a remnant to the book of Revelation under the tribulation conditions. But we’re not in the tribulation period. And they said, "Well, our view has been vindicated somewhat" And they gave me a new statement on it.

I am now getting literature telling us that we are right back where we were in 1956, and they are indeed the "Remnant Church"! . - The Seventh-day Adventist denomination in 1957 stated, that it did not believe that it was the "Remnant Church" to the exclusion of everybody else. Now we are beginning to get feedback to the contrary. The Adventist Church in the clearest possible terms stated in 1956, that the atonement of Christ was completed on the cross, that it was over with, no continuation. We are now beginning to receive considerable material quite the opposite The Adventist Church told us in 1956 that Jesus Christ had an absolutely sinless nature, and they repudiated publications even by their own magazines, that said that Christ had a sinful human nature.

In 1957, the Adventist denomination said nobody will be excommunicated for not understanding or believing in, in effect, Mrs. White’s prophetic gift. Today people are being excommunicated from the denomination because they call under question those things. Now these are issues that the Adventist church must face.

I do not question the integrity of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. I have addressed a series of questions to them and I am eagerly awaiting their response to those questions.

What I did in 1956, I have done again for the purpose of helping my Adventist brothers and sisters and the whole body of Christ. Seventh-day Adventism has made enormous strides and has made great contributions to the life of the Christian church. Their medical works are unchallenged. Their dedication I have seen in the mission fields of the world.

The fact that they are concerned and do preach Christ and the many people that have come to Christ through that preaching is undeniable. But side by side, there has grown up with this, a body of teaching which if permitted to continue will classify Seventh-day Adventism along with the cults all over again.

One of the great highlights of my life, was to stand in Jerusalem with Roy Allan Anderson of the Seventh-day Adventist Church about ten years ago, and there to see a Seventh-day Adventist minister serve communion, an ecumenical prophetic conference for the whole church of Christ, with thousands of people there, and they asked Roy to serve communion. Before Dr. Barn-house’s work and my work in 1956 to 1960, Roy Anderson would have been considered by that group, unworthy of an invitation and would never have been received as a Christian minister. But the Holy Spirit took that work and "Questions on Doctrine" and that committee; and Reuben Figuhr who had the courage to do it, and they transformed the image of Seventh-day Adventism - Now the great threat is that it may go back again. This cannot be permitted to happen if at all possible in the body of Christ. We must fight for the integrity of our Seventh-day Adventist brothers to believe what their church says they believed. That’s the real question, whether they stay with "Questions on Doctrine" and back it, will they republish it?

They deliberately suppressed it at one time. It was up for publication. I have the whole story. It was suppressed by powers of the Adventist denomination that didn’t agree with what it said. Well what did it say? I’ll tell you. This is what "Questions on Doctrine" said: that the trinity is Biblical theology and is to be believed; that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh with a perfect human nature; that He died on the cross and paid the price for all our sins once for all. "Questions on Doctrine" said, he rose bodily from the dead, he is sent to heaven as our great High Priest. "Questions on Doctrine" said, the atonement was finished on the cross. Questions on Doctrine" said, salvation is solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what it said, and that’s good solid Christian theology.

Today, we are hearing voices within the Adventist denomination that are not teaching good solid Christian theology. They are teaching heresies which the church originally repudiated.

I even have to say that Mrs. White is a false prophet, that she is an enemy of the gospel. I have received, you wouldn’t believe how many letters, and how many telephone calls, from people trying to get me to write an article on Ellen White, the false prophet. I have been trying to do so. Now I’m going on record with this publicly, it’ll probably offend some people, but it has to be said. Joseph Smith denied the great doctrines of the Bible. Joseph Smith was a false prophet. False prophets are known by the fact that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. That is the mark of a false prophet. Enemies of God, who turn you away from the Lord, your God. That is what a false prophet is. Tomorrow night we talk about Mormonism, and we’ll see that very clearly.

Mrs. White by that definition could never be called a false prophet. She did preach the gospel. She did draw Christ; only read her book "Steps to Christ," you’ll recognize that. Mrs. White exercised, I believe, at certain times, spiritual gifts. But Mrs. White was a sinner saved by grace.

There is no need for any investigative judgment at any time, because Jesus took care of it all on the cross. If you have the kind of a God that’s got to go over a set of books to decide whether or not you have been justified, you have not got the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible knew who was justified before time began. He did not need the Millerite movement of 1843 to update Him on it. or 1844. The Bible does not teach that Jesus Christ went from the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary into the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844, but the Bible teaches at His resurrection Jesus Christ entered into the holiest of all with His own blood, and it obtained eternal redemption for us.

The doctrine of the incomplete atonement is incomplete reality. It is not Christian theology. It denies justification by faith. There is a book published by the Adventist denomination now. It’s called the "Omega" book. This has to be repudiated as rapidly as possible, if the Adventists are to have credibility in the eyes of the Christian church. Because in that book they go back to attempting to establish righteousness, not on the basis of grace alone and salvation by grace alone, but bringing in the very legalism which got them in the trouble we had years and years ago.

There are lunatic Baptists, Episcopalians. you name it. I wouldn’t want to be represented by a lunatic Baptist. I don’t think that a good bunch of Seventh-day Adventists want to be represented by some of the lunacy that is coming out by Adventist publications today. So I wouldn’t want to judge that as representative of total Seventh-day Adventism.

But they have a problem. [The Adventists] And that problem now becomes the problem of the body of Christ. The body of Christ must work together with them to try and solve it. That is why I have not taken positions publicly against the General Conference. That is why I have not published lots and lots and lots of material in Christian magazines when I’ve been asked to. Because the Adventist denomination deserves the chance to look squarely in the face of questions and answer them. If they answer them so they repudiate "Questions on Doctrine," they deserve what happens. And if they will affirm what they said they historically believed, that the people who are now in positions of power, who are propagating these false teachings should be removed from the denomination immediately. But godly Adventists should not be discriminated against, when they are definitely trying to solve the problems.

There are Seventh-day Adventist ministers in this valley who -have left the Seventh-day Adventists Church out of conviction. Some have been thrown out of this church by conviction. They deserve the heartfelt apologies of their denomination.

"Questions on Doctrine" dealt with this, beautifully, clear-cut. Salvation by grace through faith.

On the basic areas of Christian theology, Christians of all denominations had better be prepared, as we move toward the end of the ages, to hang together.

The center of the gospel is evident, and we’ve got to stay with that. The Seventh-day Adventist denomination will affirm - the centrality of that gospel, if the Seventh-day Adventist denomination will repudiate those who are misrepresenting them. If the Seventh-day Adventist denomination will stop talking out of both sides of the mouth, then the Christian public and the Adventists will then at last hear one thing.

Let them [the Adventist Church] repudiate the "Omega" publication, and then let the denomination squarely and forthrightly say this—here we stand on the foundations we announced in 1956—and discipline the people that don’t believe in them. Then they will once again have credibility in the ~eyes of the Evangelical world and in the eyes of many disappointed and frustrated Adventists.

Martin, preface to Question Period: "I will be publishing on the subject of the puzzle of Seventh-day Adventism: and what I publish, on tape and in book form, will be available in over 6,000 Christian bookstores with 90 days after it is released. So we are going to get a good response from the Christian public, and now you know why I am concerned, and why I feel this is a matter of great importance for the Adventists and their fellow Christians,"

Martin: I’m interested in only one thing: I’m interested in the official position of your denomination, and what it says. I’m willing to accept what they say is their position as I did in 1956, provided it is backed up with documentation. And I think that’s fair.

Question from the audience: You will be having a book come out very soon, and is it Seventh-day Adventism as you presented tonight, and is it [General] Conference supported?

Answer by Martin: Wait for the book. Wait for the book. And that will tell you exactly. As I said at the beginning of the lecture, that I don’t prejudice [or is the word "prejudge"?] the General Conference. I’m giving them every chance to respond as brothers.

Different questioner: You’re saying that in your book [you’re going to publish that] you’re going to classify this church as a cult—.

Martin interjecting: I didn’t say that. Questioner. Okay, I mean, are you? That’s my question. Martin r(‘ph-: I’m not answering that question tonight—. Questioner interjecting: Oh, you’re not answering it tonight—.

Martin interjecting: I’m waiting for answers myself [from the General Conference] Different questioner: Where in the Bible does it state that the Sabbath that Jesus kept has been changed to Sunday?

Martin reply: It hasn’t. The Seventh-day Sabbath still stands as a memorial of Creation. That has not been changed. The early Christian Church maintained the first day of the week [The majority of the early Christian Church did not keep Sunday, even down to the fifth century A.D. Read BS—3-4 "The Story of the Change of the Sabbath."]

Conclusion

So now we have come to the end of this study on the new, May 1988, doctrinal book, Seventh-day Adventists Believe. But it will only the beginning of a long, hard up hill battle by all of us to try and maintain our Bible-Spirit of Prophecy beliefs and standards in the church that God intended should give the final messages to the world before probation closes.

Friends, I tell you sorrowfully that a tragedy is in the making:

Many thousands of our people will now slip farther into the grips of the keep-on-sinning new theology crowd that is surfeiting among us.

The paragraphs, below, are excerpted from a comment made by the present writer back in the spring of 1 983 as he concluded the tedious preparation of the eighteen-pad tract set, The Beginning of the End, that documented the entire Martin-Barnhouse meetings with our leaders and the extensive after-effects of those sessions. (This documentation is now available in the 120-page tractbook, The Evangelical Conferences).

For seventeen years he has publicly stated that Seventh-day Adventism is not a cult. But ;n this lecture it is obvious that be has been receiving letters from a large number of Fordite Adventists and non-Adventist Fordite sympathizers who are urging Martin to now revise his classification of our denomination.

As a result Martin says he has contacted the General Conference and has submitted another listing of doctrinal "questions" to which be wants "answers" that are satisfactory to him. No reply or the wrong reply will be sufficient cause for unpleasant action on his part "in his new hook "which be will be releasing in a short time.

So those of you who thought you were reading history now find you are reading current news. And it is news that you should yourself act upon. In 1955 we were told nothing about Martin’s questions—much less our answers. Not until the Protestant magazines leaked the news in then’ "bombshell" articles did Adventists, as a whole, learn what was taking place. Today another set of "questions" has been submitted to the General Conference. And the Church has known nothing about it. But, fortunately, on February 22 of this year, Walter Martin told us what was happening.

It is now time to read—and then WRITE.

Write the General Conference and demand that our leaders stop yielding to Evangelical demands for doctrinal compromise. We are compromising with the Evangelicals within our Church on the matter of doctrine. (The "Evangelicals within our Church" are the Ferrites and "new theology" advocates.) And now the pressure is on to yield more to the Evangelicals without the Church.

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