WOE unto you, when men shall speak well of you," warned the Saviour. From our very beginning, Seventh-day Adventists have known that all men were not speaking well of them. But we have been made happy in recent years that opinions concerning us and our work have been changing. Many factors have contributed to bring this about. People become afraid, or at least suspicious, of that which they do not understand. And Seventh-day Adventists certainly have been misunderstood. But the eagerness of many to become familiar with our doctrines and objectives has been heartening.
Naturally we have been seeking to be understood, and we regret that some have taken this to mean that we have changed our basic beliefs. But in no way have we compromised our doctrines. On the contrary, there never has been a time when we were so united in our principles of faith and objectives as we are today. This we say without hesitation.
From the very beginning of our movement there has never been any question concerning the vicarious sacrifice of our Lord. Christ and Him crucified has been the center of our message. But because of our emphasis on His high-priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, and the climaxing judgment, some of our fellow Christians have charged us with not teaching the finished sacrifice of our Lord. In recent years we have been giving added emphasis to the place of the cross in the whole structure of truth. Not only does truth center in Christ but He Himself is the truth, and every true doctrine proceeds from Him, and His transcendent acts.
A few years ago a group of Christian scholars deeply concerned about the Adventist teachings and their effect upon the church as a whole, came to the General Conference headquarters to inquire just what are our beliefs in these areas of truth. These men represented conservative and evangelical theology, and they were eager to know firsthand what we believe. An interview that was to have lasted at most but a few hours, lengthened into a series of eighteen interviews, or intensive Bible studies, which took place over a period of many months—two and one-half years, to be exact.
As a result of these forthright examinations of Seventh-day Adventist beliefs in the light of Scripture, those theologians received an entirely new concept of Adventism. They were not only surprised but delighted to discover that we believed exactly as they believed in what they spoke of as the heart of the Christian message— Christology. During those intensive weeks of earnest prayer and study, all our doctrines were put to the test of the Word. Later their evaluation of Seventh-day Adventism was published in both the religious and secular press.
Two of those study conferences, lasting over a period of days, convened in the home of the late Dr. Donald G. Barnhouse, of Philadelphia. Those of us who were there will never forget those interviews and the earnest statement made by that Christian leader, when at the close of a long day and evening around the Word, he rose and said, "Brethren, for thirty years I have misunderstood Adventists, and during all that time I have been fighting you. But I did it conscientiously. Even now I do not believe all that you believe, and cannot accept the 'special truths' that you feel called to preach; but when it comes to the real heart of Evangelical faith we can clasp hands, because I have now discovered that we stand together at the cross. I am now ready to declare from my heart that you are my brethren in Christ."
It was a moving moment, because this good man had used both his pen and the radio to defame Adventists, not once or twice, but scores of times. Following those interviews he wrote an article concerning us, and I quote from his opening paragraph:
"In the past two years, several Evangelical leaders have come to a new attitude toward the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The change is a remarkable one since it consists in moving the Seventh-day Adventists, in my opinion, out of the list of anti-Christian and non-Christian cults into the group of those who are brethren in Christ." That article sparked interest around the world and became a center of real controversy in the religious press. A few misinformed Evangelicals disagreed violently, while others recognized the truth of Dr. Barnhouse's statement. Sensing the deep public interest in this question, the religious editor of Time magazine requested an interview with Dr. Barnhouse and Walter Martin. He then wrote an article which appeared in the December 31, 1956, issue of Time, entitled "Peace With the Adventists."
"On issue after issue," declared the editor, Martin found Adventists "hewing to the line of conservative Protestantism." Then he quoted the following words from Dr. Barnhouse: "We are delighted to do justice to a much maligned group of sincere believers, and in our minds and hearts take them out of the group of utter heretics like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Christian Scientists, to acknowledge them as redeemed brethren and members of the Body of Christ."
From many parts of the world letters came to me, as editor of The Ministry, asking for clarification on important points. It was gratifying to discover that after more than a hundred years Adventists were now being understood by those who took the time to investigate our fundamental beliefs.
At the very time our intensive study with those leaders began, the Zondervan Publishing House of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was bringing out a new book by Walter Martin, The Rise of the Cults. In this volume a number of different religious groups were examined briefly, all of whom were classified as cults. Theosophy, Christian Science, Unity, and Latter-day Saints were among those examined. In his original manuscript the author had a chapter on Seventh-day Adventists, but when he discovered firsthand what Adventists really believe, he recognized that what he had written previously was not in harmony with fact. So he and the publishers withdrew that chapter, inserting another in its place. The design in the paper jacket was also altered, another group replacing the position reserved for Adventists.
Martin was absolutely convinced that we did not belong among the cults, for as he himself said many times, "On all the real fundamental issues relating to our salvation and the sacrifice of Christ, Adventists ring true as steel." He also recognized that, like other Protestant bodies, we have felt called of God to proclaim certain special truths. The Wesleys emphasized free grace in contrast with the Calvinistic belief of limited atonement and election; while the Baptists taught the need of baptism by immersion.
As our name indicates, Adventists have emphasized the imminent return of our Lord. And we rejoice that today many of our Fundamentalist brethren are also proclaiming this truth. A century ago, however, this was not the case. Adventists were ridiculed by most Christians because the popular belief was that the kingdom of God would come, not by divine intervention and a catastrophic end to human plans, but rather by the gradual development of the race. Whitbyanism and Darwinism both exerted a large influence on the theology of their day.
Likewise, from our beginning we have proclaimed that God is the Creator of all things, and that the Seventh-day Sabbath is the sign of His creative power. We have therefore felt impelled to proclaim the great truth of the Sabbath. Our obedience to God's command in this respect is in no way to be interpreted as legalism. It is our love and loyalty to Him who redeemed us by His blood that impels us to "walk even as he walked." We recognize that, important as those "special truths" are which we proclaim, yet these do not save us, nor do they add to us any virtue. We are saved by grace, and grace alone. Nothing that we can do can add a single thing to what our Lord has done for us. Moreover, of ourselves we are unable to keep His commandments. But Christ, who dwells in the heart of the believer, gives victory over sin.
When once those Evangelical leaders came to understand our position on this central truth of the gospel they stretched forth hands of fellowship, and together we knelt and thanked God for the grace of Jesus Christ, which makes all true believers one in Him.
It was this that urged Walter Martin to withdraw the chapter he had written against Adventism in the book referred to, The Rise of the Cults. While there are some unfortunate references to us in the opening chapter of that book, yet that could not be helped, because that section of the book had already gone through the presses before we met Martin. Many times he expressed his regret that those statements were there, but he took occasion in articles and public lectures to explain the situation.
The publishing date of the book is 1955, and that was a few months prior to the publication of three articles in Eternity magazine that made clear to the Evangelical branch of Christianity, at least, that we did not belong among the cults. This has been Martin's consistent attitude from his first contact with us.
During recent months, however, a series of articles appeared in Christianity Today under the general heading of "The Challenge of the Cults," the first of which was published December 19, 1960. In these articles, written by different authors, an attempt was made to review briefly some of the teachings of a number of different groups, including ourselves. It seems strange to us that Christianity Today would put Seventh-day Adventists among the cults, and especially so when the writer, who happened to be Walter Martin himself, states the very opposite in the article. We quote: "That Adventists should be recognized as Christians, and that fellowship should be extended to them we do not deny. They are a Christian denomination rather than an anti-Christian cult." (Emphasis ours.)
Walter Martin is perhaps the best-informed non-Adventist writer on the subject of Adventism. And although his article leaves something to be desired, in some respects at least, yet he does spell out in clear language that we are definitely Christian and should not be designated a "cult." And this is in perfect accord with the clear statements in his book, The Truth About Seventh-day Adventism. On page 236 he says:
We hope that many who have looked upon Adventists as dangerous non-Christian cultists will revise this view. In the providence of God, and in His own good time, we trust that evangelical Christianity as a whole will extend the hand of fellowship to a group o£ sincere, earnest fellow Christians, distinguished though they are by some peculiar views, but members of the Body of Christ and possessors of the faith that saves.
No one could write that way unless he had definite convictions. And in this volume, while he disagrees with certain of our teachings, yet he makes it clear to the Christian world that Adventism is not a "cult." And Dr. Barnhouse in his foreword to this book likewise clearly states that "Seventh-day Adventists are a truly Christian group, rather than an antichristian cult." —Page 7.
Now, we have a high regard for Christianity Today and for its editorial staff; but what has happened to logic and consistency? But even more: Coming to our desk is an appeal for new subscribers to the journal, and a bonus book is offered entitled The Challenge of the Cults. This book is a republication of those articles which appeared in Christianity Today. The special announcement calls it "a symposium on seven leading cults by students of the cult movement in America." On the cover of this small paperback, Adventism is listed among those branded as the "leading cults."
When Martin's book The Rise of the Cults went to press six years ago, the author saw to it that we were taken off the jacket. But here is a book coming from the same publishing house and the article on Adventism is by the same author. Five or six years ago Dr. Barnhouse, with whom we had so much to do, clearly stated that we do not belong among the cults, because we are "redeemed brethren in Christ."
But today the editors of Christianity Today and the Zondervan Publishing House seem eager to classify us with those who do not believe in the deity of Christ, His sinless nature, His vicarious sacrifice, His bodily resurrection, His high-priestly ministry in heaven, His return to the earth as King of kings, and salvation by grace alone. These are the fundamental truths of the Christian church, and on every one of them "Adventism rings as true as steel." Can we be blamed if we ask what has happened to reason and consistency? Seventh-day Adventists have certainly not changed their beliefs; but prejudice has evidently changed the opinions of some of our Evangelical friends.
We are charged with being "unorthodox." But even a casual study of church history reveals that such groups as the Baptists, Methodists, and others were in their earlier period also labeled unorthodox by the socalled orthodoxy of their day. What is heterodox in one generation becomes orthodox at a later time. We challenge church historians and theologians to produce the evidence that at any time since the second century has the Christian church been completely united in belief.
There have always been those who, by the grace of God, have been given advanced light, and each time that has happened there have been others who denied that light. They have not usually done it wickedly or willfully, but because their eyes were not open to discern it. The "dragon" has ever been wroth with the "woman" and has been instigating persecutions without number through all the centuries of the Christian Era.
But the Scripture indicates that at the very last period of earth's history the enemy of all righteousness will go forth with renewed determination to make war upon the church of God, and especially upon those who by His grace "keep the commandments of God." When John the apostle looked down to our time he saw a group who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." He declared that they were steadfast to the fundamental truths of the gospel (Rev. 14:12). Against such the dragon vents his full venom. And he uses friend and foe alike in his effort to destroy.
Under the name of "orthodoxy" that same dragon power nailed our Lord to a cross, and later opposed the great apostle Paul. He instigated some of the religious leaders to stone and flog the great evangelist. It was so-called orthodoxy that ignited the fires of the Inquisition. "Orthodoxy" refused John Wesley the privilege of preaching from his deceased father's pulpit. But nothing daunted, that great evangelist stepped out of the church, and standing upon his father's grave, preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified with such power that hundreds were convicted by the Spirit of God, among them even some of those who had opposed him.
Historic orthodoxy put some of this writer's Baptist ancestors to death in England in the seventeenth century. It is not the opposition that surprises us. Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, and all who came forth with the message of God for their time have had to endure opposition and persecution. So why should Adventists be favored above others? What does surprise us is the downright inconsistency of those who a short time ago declared themselves our friends and "brethren in Christ."
We have regarded Christianity Today as one of the best edited and most informative journals in the religious press. We hailed its advent with delight, believing that here was a scholarly production that would set forth true evangelical positions; that it was nonpartisan, yet eager to defend principle and Christian ethics. But we register our deep disappointment that in an effort to encourage a greater circulation, a bonus book of this kind should be offered, which by association at least places Seventh-day Adventists with groups who definitely deny "the finished work of Christ" and the fundamental gospel of salvation. By this action the editors indicate that they believe this is where Seventh-day Adventists belong. We urge Christianity Today and the publishers of the bonus book, The Challenge of the Cults, to set the record straight. "Consistency, thou art a jewel!"
R. A. A.
