A False Prophetic Movement?

Men like D.M. Canright, Albion Ballenger, Edward Ballenger, L.R. Conradi, R.D. Brinsmead, D. Ford and many other great bible scholars have called attention to doctrinal problems within the Advent movement. Sometimes these were legitimate problems which needed to be addressed and sometimes these were problems with the men themselves, but they all eventually felt that God's providence and Spirit were not in the movement and that the Seventh-day Adventist Movement was a deception.

However, God has great light for His remnant people and that great light was brought to the world in the humblest of beginnings through a movement called Seventh Day Adventism. In the Advent Movement vital truths from the word of God which have been either ignored by the Protestant Reformation or else buried by the Papal Antichrist have been restored to the "faith once delivered to the saints". God works slowly in restoring all the light that He has for His people. The sunrise is not instant or we would be blinded by the fullness of the Sun's glory.

The early adventists were mostly humble farmers and tradesmen. They were not trained theologians as some of us are today. But God bypassed the proud post-millenial theologians of the day and brought to the world the good news that Jesus was soon to return in the clouds of glory. This premillenial message shattered the myth of man's perfectibility which was the predominant theology of the liberal established churches of the day which looked for a millennium of peace and prosperity and bringing Christ's kingdom to earth by Man's social gospel. This error was swept away by a few "radicals" who proclaimed "repent for the kingdom of God is nigh". The Spirit of God was in this message as surely as God was in the message of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist did not have all the proper understanding of the work that he was called to do, but he obeyed the Spirit and proclaimed the Word that he was given. Woe to the man or woman who rejected his message; they were unprepared to receive the greater light that God had in the coming of Light into the world. Jesus came to His own but His own received Him not, because they had rejected the one who prepared the way of the Lord.

We are standing on holy ground when we deal in the word of God. We must take off the shoes of sarcasm and unbelief and stand in holy awe before the movings of the Spirit of God. Of course there are false prophets within the Advent movement! Should we expect anything else to happen? Will Satan stand idly by as he sees his lies exposed? Were those who opposed to the Great Awakening of the 19th century correct? Obviously they were correct; Jesus did not come! But the error of many was that they did not LOVE His appearing. Many mocked and jeered the movings of the Spirit of God and thus many were rejected by God.

The same thing occurred with Ballenger. Was he correct regarding the fact that Christ entered into the Most Holy place at His ascension and not in 1844? Yes, of course. All those Adventist theologians who now understand the meaning of Paul's epistle to the Hebrews know this. But is the Advent movement a "false prophet" because we are restoring the great truth of the judgment hour wherein God is calling the world to stand before His holy Law and be judged according their works? This restoration of the Law of God and the judgment hour message is the same message of early church which was cast down and trampled underfoot by the Man of Sin.

Along with the Judgment Hour message the Lord sent an equally precious restoration message to the remnant people in 1888. This message brought before the people the perfect merits of our great High Priest who stands in the judgment for the people of God to justify them by faith alone in His own imputed righteousness in the judgment. Even though Jones and Waggoner fell away from the message themselves, this message was the beginning of the loud cry that was to fill the earth with the glory of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ's righteousness will justify all repentant sinners who will trust in His perfect imputed holiness to bear them through the great time of testing and on to the glory of the 2d advent. Thus the Protestant Reformation was to be completed in this message.

In the final hours of history all that has been cast to the ground will be raised up and placed in its proper setting. The Law of God is being restored in all of its glory and power to convict of sin and show our need of the Savior (the Second Use of the Law). The Law of God is also being restored to show us our need of an objective standard of moral behavior (the Third Use of the Law).

The fourth commandment which calls Man to moral accountability to his Creator is being restored in the hour of the judgment. This accountability demands that the lie of Darwinian evolution be denounced as the modern Baal worship that it is. This accountability demands that the lie of the Sunday Sabbath be exposed as the lie of the one who sits upon seven hills and "calls fire down from heaven in the sight of men" and deceives them by means of the miracles that he is able to do in the sight of the Beast.

The true nature of Man is being restored which declares that "only God hath immortality" and that death is not a friend but an enemy that shall be destroyed at the "last trump". That old Serpent's lie that "ye shall not surely die" is being exposed for the abomination that it is.

The truth that believers in Christ must have faith in the blood of Christ and repentance from sin "continually" to the end of the Christian life is being restored. Hyper-Calvinism and double predestination are thus shown to be a false gospel.

The truth that our Lord can come at any time to judge the world is being restored. This truth destroys the error that there will be 1000 years of peace before Jesus comes. Thus Post Millennialism is shown to be a deception. This was one of the great errors of the 19th century which the Millerite Movement repudiated.

This truth also destroys the Dispensational error that Christ will come "secretly" and "rapture" away the Church before the "Tribulation Period". The truth that the Church will go through and endure throughout the tribulation is thus restored.

The truth of Educational Reform was committed to the Advent Movement. This reform elevates the Word of God above the book of nature as the supreme authority for knowledge of Man's origin, purpose, and destiny in eternity. This reform thus proclaims that the Darwinian educational system of modern Humanism of the 21st century to be a lie.

There are other reforms committed to the Advent Movement which have not even mentioned such as health and diet reform, dress reform, stewardship reform, medical reform, and "spiritual gifts" reform.

Has the Adventist movement in its history been correct in every area? Of course not! Has there been extremism? Have wrong positions been taken? The answer is obvious. But the beauty of the Advent Movement is that God is restoring the everlasting gospel in this movement. Men and women may come and go, but God will restore His truth!!

We have nothing to fear for the future except that we forget how God has lead us in the past! The greatest restoration however is the fact that God is proclaiming His eternal love for the human family in that, "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Who is sufficient for these things? The "two witnesses" will finish their testimony as a witness against the "False Prophet " and then the end will come. If we hold our peace the very stones will cry out.