Wednesday, January 23, 2013

WHAT IS THE GREAT CONTROVERSY?



I opened my mailbox recently to find a paperback stuffed inside with the title, “The Great Controversy” and this teaser question on the cover, “How Will It End?”  Perhaps you received a copy, or might soon.

This is a mass-mailing of the Seventh-day Adventists.  The book was authored by E. G. White—Ellen G. White—their prophetess.  If the writing style seems antiquated, it is because she wrote the book about the time of the Civil War.

It came out of a “vision” she had.  Although the SDA Church does not place it on the same level of inspiration as Scripture in their statements, in practical effect they treat it and her other writings virtually so—and they are woven into their theology.

Had Ellen White read Galatians instead of writing visions it would have been more helpful.  She and others in the SDA movement follow the same error Paul refuted—mixing law and grace—and thus promoting a different Gospel.  That is not something to take lightly.

Here is what Paul said, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”(Galatians 1:6–9)

If White is the “mother” of this movement, William Miller is the “father.”  Miller was a Baptist pastor who became convinced that he knew the relative date for Christ’s return.  He said, “My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844."  It didn’t happen, so he recalculated and came up with October 22, 1844—and once more his prophecy proved false.  Had he been living under the Old Testament law which Adventists advocate so strongly, the head of their movement would have been stoned to death for the false prophecy!

Even White, in the aforementioned book tried to make excuses and stated, “William Miller and his associates did not, themselves, fully comprehend the import of the message which they bore.  Errors that had been long established in the church prevented them from arriving at a correct interpretation…” (Great Controversy, p.185).  The name Adventists is drawn from this prime focus of the movement on the end time events—which they misinterpret still.

The explanation for what happened on that date which SDA promotes is that Christ rather than return to earth, entered into the Heavenly Sanctuary to carry out, “an investigative judgment” to determine who is truly saved.  Only in keeping the law—dietary regulations, Sabbath observance, etc.—will one become fit for heaven, along with trusting in Christ.  Failure to do so may mean our names are blotted out of God’s Book.

Other errors they promote are:

1)      Satan has a part in bearing our sins.
2)      When people die, the soul sleeps until the Judgment Day—they are in a state of unconsciousness until the resurrection.
3)      Those judged to be wicked will be annihilated—they do not suffer torment forever in hell.
4)      Failure to keep the Sabbath and choosing to worship on Sunday is in the end to take the Mark of the Beast.

All of these false teachings are easily corrected by the Scripture.

Harold J. Berry wrote this, “Because of their deviation from the Scriptures, the Seventh-day Adventists cannot be called evangelicals.  This does not mean that every person in the Seventh-day Adventist movement is unsaved.  Any person who trusts Christ alone for salvation has eternal life, regardless of his religious affiliation.  However, it is regrettable that most of those in this movement are blind to the Galatianism which their church teaches and which has never been renounced by its leaders.” (Examining the Cults, pp.111-112).

I wanted to warn you, lest you be troubled by SDA teaching.