Occasionally we receive letters from staid, loyal Seventh-day Adventists who lament the sensational methods employed by some along the line of time setting. One writes as follows:
"For years we have been hearing that the end is only four or five years away, or that the next General Conference will be the last. When we united with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we were assured that it could not be over five years before the end. We have grown weary of sensationalism."
There are some who resort to these sensational methods of virtual time setting, in the hope of bringing people to a decision in favor of the great message God has given us to proclaim to the world today. While, of course, they do not set the day and the hour, they do come perilously near setting the year.
It is exceedingly easy to prophesy, but it is quite another thing to make true predictions within the specifications outlined for us. Many have been sadly disappointed by such sensational prophesyings, and some have lost confidence in our message on the Lord's coming because of such unjustifiable declarations. Nor is this caution to be construed as in any sense saying, "My Lord delayeth His coming," It is solely an appeal to shun abuses of the most important message that we can bear to man.
When I accepted this message forty years ago, I was informed by certain workers that it was too late in human history to get married, because the Lord's coming could not be more than five or ten years distant at the most, and that we would merely bring children into 'the world to be consumed by the last plagues, as they would never grow to manhood before the end. These brethren were undoubtedly sincere in giving this instruction to us as newcomers in the faith, but they were grossly mistaken in judgment and unwarranted in giving such counsel. It is one thing to teach the soon coming of Christ, but a wholly different thing to fix the time of His coming and the end of the world by such declarations.
When a preacher makes bold to predict that the Lord's coming will take place within the next five years or ten years, he is a time setter. Both the Bible and the Spirit of prophecy condemn time setting. "The exact time of the second coming of the Son of man is God's mystery."—"The Desire of Ages." p. 632. Again, in "The Great Controversy," Mrs. White calls time setting an "error," and adds, "The exact time of this event is not foretold."—Page 456. The Lord's messenger admonishes Adventists , against time setting as follows: "Many Adventists have felt that unless they could fix their faith upon a definite time for the Lord's coming, they could not be zealous and diligent in the work of preparation. But as their hopes are again and again excited, only to be destroyed, their faith receives such a shock that it becomes well-nigh impossible for them to be impressed by the great truths of prophecy." Time setting "excites ridicule and contempt of its advocates, and thus casts reproach upon the great advent movement."—"The Great Controversy," p. 457.
We have authority in the Scriptures to preach the near coming of Christ after the fulfillment of certain specified signs, but we have no authority in Scripture or in the Spirit of prophecy to predict the definite time of the end of the world. Even if a purported angel from heaven came and told us the definite time of the end, we are told in Scripture and in the Spirit of prophecy not to believe him. Let us as Christ's ambassadors not confuse or disappoint our people by sensational time setting. It can only lead to ultimate discouragement, and cause them to lose faith in us and in the message we bring. Let us stress the imminence without the errors.
Washington, D. C.
Success Pointers.—He who grasps authority seldom gains influence.
He who wishes to succeed must seek men's welfare, not their "Well done."
Do not prove truth too much, or you will make men doubt it.
Affectation spoils good sermons, and makes bad ones ridiculous.
The successful man is the man who has done most for others.
You can do all God calls you to do.
What we do depends on what we are.
If our words are to have power with men, our lives must convince them of our sincerity. —C. H. Spurgeon
