Sin Slaves or Redemption's Few?

BOND-SERVANTS AND FREEMEN

The power of faith in bringing victory may be shown by another line of Scripture texts, which are exceedingly practical. In the first place, let it be understood that the sinner is a slave. Christ said: "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." John 8:34. Paul also says, putting himself in the place of an unrenewed man, "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom. 7:14. A man who is sold is a slave; therefore the man who is sold under sin is the slave of sin. Peter brings to view the same fact, when, speaking of corrupt, false teachers, he says: "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." 2 Peter 2:19.

The prominent characteristic of the slave is that he cannot do as he pleases, but is bound to perform the will of another, no matter how irksome it may be. Paul thus proves the truth of his saying that he, as a carnal man, was the slave of sin: "For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwell-  [86]  eth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do." Rom. 7:15, 17-19.

The fact that sin controls, proves that a man is a slave; and although everyone that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin, the slavery becomes unendurable when the sinner has had a glimpse of freedom, and longs for it, yet cannot break the chains which bind him to sin. The impossibility for the unrenewed man to do even the good that he would like to do has been shown already from Rom. 8:7, 8 and Gal. 5:17.

How many people have in their own experience proved the truth of these scriptures. How many have resolved, and resolved again, and yet their sincerest resolutions have proved in the face of temptation as weak as water. They had no might, and they did not know what to do; and, unfortunately, their eyes were not upon God so much as upon themselves and the enemy. Their experience was one of constant struggle against sin, it is true, but of constant defeat as well.

Call you this a true Christian experience? There are some who imagine that it is. Why, then, did the apostle, in the anguish of his soul, cry out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:24. Is a true Christian experiencing a body of death so terrible that the soul is constrained to cry for deliverance? — Nay, verily.

Again, who is it that, in answer to this earnest appeal, reveals Himself35 as a deliverer? Says the apostle, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." In another place he says of Christ:—

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage. Heb. 2:14, 15.

Again, Christ thus proclaims His own mission:—36

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isa. 61:1.

What this bondage and captivity are has already been shown. It is the bondage of sin—the slavery of being compelled to sin, even against the will, by the power of inherited and acquired evil propensities and habits. Does Christ deliver from a true Christian experience?—No, indeed. Then the bondage of sin, of which the apostle complains in the seventh of Romans, is not the experience of a child of God, but of the servant of sin. It is to deliver men from this captivity that Christ came; not to deliver us, during this life, from warfare and struggles, but from defeat; to enable us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, so that we could give thanks unto the Father "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath  [88]  translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son," through whose blood we have redemption.

How is this deliverance effected?—By the Son of God. Says Christ: "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:31, 32, 36. This freedom comes to everyone that believeth; for to them that believe on His name, He gives the "power to become the sons of God." The freedom from condemnation comes to them who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1); and we put on Christ by faith (Gal. 3:26, 27). It is by faith that Christ dwells in our hearts.

Christ And His Righteousness. 

E.J. Waggoner

(Excerpt)

*******

IN RETROSPECT -- IN PROSPECT -- With this issue of "Watchman, What of the Night?" we complete ten years of publication. During this period we would rather have seen changes for the better within the Church than having had to report continued apostasy and compromise with the Truth. We are cognizant of the fact that there have been others who after a decade of activity have renounced in toto their former position, and joined the ranks of the apostasy. This we do not intend to do. We see no reason to cease crying aloud and sparing not. If anything, that need is even greater today than when we began ten years ago. And so with a stronger voice in clearer tone, we intend by God's grace and in His strength to cry louder and spare less than we have during these past years. We are fully convinced in the light of certain developments within and without the Church, this coming decade will be more momentous than the past. Would to God that every member of the Church would become fully aware as to what is taking place in the midst of spiritual Israel, and with keen perception understand the real issues involved in the continued crises.

Tragically, missionary activities, programs, evangelistic crusades, and social functions are being promoted as diversionary tactics by the leadership of the Church so as to keep the laity absorbed in "church chores" that the real issues will not come through to them. These things to express it in other language - have become a facade to cover a tragic crack developing within the Church edifice. The crevices as they begin to appear are daubed with untempered mortar. Well did God say to Ezekiel:       0 Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes of the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. . . Because, even because they have seduced my people saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: ... So I will break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord God. (Eze. 13:4-5, 10-11a, 14-16)

In the light of what is happening within the Church - and I mean the Seventh-day

p·2 -- Adventist Church - there will need to be some real soul-searching among those who plan to be numbered among the triumphant Remnant. There are questions that we have been sidestepping, or giving only academic answers, which will have to be confronted. First and foremost is the question - "What is the Church?" - or better still - "WHO are the Church?" - "WHO constitute the body of Christ?" And if we have the courage to confront this and other equally vital questions, there will follow some very agonizing reappraisals.

We cannot dismiss this assumption of such a confrontation as merely ethereal thinking. We are being forced into this reappraisal. There is coming from the Zenith Press a book by Brinsmead's sidekick, the Babylonian, Geoffrey J. Paxton, entitled, The Shaking of Adventism. Two quotes from this book as given in the advertising brochure should at least arouse some of the sleeping saints. Paxton states:      The 1970's is the period when, for the first time, two consistent streams of thought on the gospel emerge in Adventism. One stream carries the Christological gains of the 1950's [The heresies of the book, Questions on Doctrine] and the soteriological gains of the 1960's to their logical end. The other stream retreats from these gains into pre-1950 Adventism. This division brings Adventism to the threshold of an unprecedented shaking. 

The 1970's is a period of two distinct theologies in the Adventist Church. These two theologies have never stood in the relationship to each other that they do in the present period. Each stands purified of elements which logically belonged to the other, and each is now competing for the devotion of church members. Thus, this decade is a time of unprecedented polarization.

Now let us face the facts - Pre-1950 Adventism, and Post-1950 Adventism cannot exist in the same organization side by side as a singular Truth. One is Truth, and the other is Apostasy. The determination of which is which and the action called for as a result of such a decision will be exceedingly painful for two cannot walk together unless they be agreed. (Amos 3:3) Either we deny our spiritual heritage, or we will hold firm to the faith committed to our trust. And that Faith confesses that God did indeed raise up a Movement in 1844 consistent with His purposes toward men as revealed in the final atonement of Jesus Christ in the second Apartment of the Heavenly Sanctuary. Further that Faith confesses that God will bring that Movement to a triumphant conclusion through a revelation of a people who will stand without fault in His presence. (Rev. 14:5)

The determination of which is Truth and which is Error between Pre-1950 Adventism and Post-1950 Adventism will be an individual decision. We have been told - "THE FAITH OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH WILL BE TESTED AS THOUGH THERE WAS NOT ANOTHER PERSON IN THE WORLD." (Ms. la, 1890) It was God, who through Ezekiel declared:       Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord. (Eze. 14:14)

And God repeated it a second time - adding - "they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness." (Verse 20)

p 3 -- As we look forward to the next Decade hopefully it will never be completed, but that the Lord should come - we do not plan, nor will we seek to develop a new ecclesiastical body. We will seek only to provide that Truth upon which all must make their individual decision. We do know on the basis of the Inspired Testimony that during the years just before us, the work of the Third Angel will be intensified as "the binding, sealing" of the Remnant moves forward. (Early Writings, p. 89) His work is "to select the wheat from the tares [not the tares from the wheat], and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner." (Ibid., p. 118) we are not left in doubt as to what the Third Angel will use to bind the wheat, and what the bundles will look like. The Third Angel will prepare a people "firmly united, bound together by the truth, in bundles, or companies." (Ibid., p. 88) we promise before God to Whom we shall given an account in the Day of Judgment that during this Decade we shall seek to work in the closest cooperation with the Third Angel. We shall seek to present Truth - both positive and negative - which the Holy Spirit may use to bind in companies God's true people for the Heavenly Garner.

MODERN PSYCHOLOGY -- The Los Angeles Times (April 2, 1977) reported "the teaching of psychology that people should be 'nonjudgmental' toward others has resulted in heresies thriving within the churches." This situation should not have occurred within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, because we were warned against this working of the enemy through the science of psychology. We read:         If Satan should make an open, bold attack upon Christianity, it would bring the Christian in distress and agony at the feet of his Redeemer, and the strong and mighty Deliverer would affright the bold adversary away. But Satan, transformed into an angel of light, works upon the mind to allure from the only safe and right path. The sciences of phrenology, psychology, and mesmerism have been the channel through which Satan has come more directly to this generation, and wrought with that power which was to characterize his work near the close of probation. (Messages to Young People, p. 57)

Well did the servant of the Lord also state - "The position that it is of no consequence what men believe, is one of Satan's most successful deceptions." (Great Controversy, p. 520) When you combine these two deceptions - "that people should be 'nonjudgmental" and "it is of no consequence what men believe" - the door is open to "all deceivableness of unrighteousness" because "the love of the truth" is not "received." (II Thess. 2:10)

There might be some who would consider the psychology that would teach people to be nonjudgmental to be a Christian psychology because Jesus stated in the Sermon on the Mount - "Judge not that ye be not judged." (Matt. 7:1) However, to apply this text so that truth can be adulterated, and those who promote heresy be as acceptable as the ones who maintain the Truth is to miss the whole force of New Testament teaching. Paul wrote to Titus - "A man that is an heretick after the

p 4 -- first and second admonition reject." (Titus 3:10) John the beloved setting "the doctrine of Christ" as a criterion specified - "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (II John 10-11) And in the book of Revelation, the Church of Ephesus was commended, when in their first love they "tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and ... found them liars." (Rev. 2:2)

But what have we done in the light of all this counsel and admonition? we have not only tolerated heresy being taught from the pulpits of the Church, and through its publications, but we have continued to support with the sacred tithe those who have so openly and blatantly taught and written this heresy; while those who have sought to uphold the historic faith in harmony with revealed truth have either been disfranchised or demoted so that their voices have been muted.

Many take offense when we openly through the "thought paper" name names. To state plainly what Dr. Heppenstall is teaching from the pulpits of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is rank heresy, and to tell the laity that those responsible for the heretical book - Questions on Doctrine - R. Allan Anderson, T. E. Unruh, and others, although retired, are still being supported from the sacred tithe, is considered "low" journalism. To call attention to the fact that Elder R. H. Pierson in his self-styled capacity as "first minister" of the Church placed his imprimatur on the book - Movement of Destiny - a book containing heresy and misrepresentation, is considered improper by those who wish to sit comfortably in the pew and continue their devotion to human leadership, right or wrong. These, perhaps unwittingly, are enamored by the devil's psychology that one should be "nonjudgmental."

To be strictly honest - such a course is not pleasant. We confess that when we are taken to task for such forthright presentations, or receive suggestions that if we would tone down our "crying aloud" large amounts of money would flow into the Foundation, we must turn again, and as we have often done over the years, reread the counsel found in Prophets and Kings, pp. 140-142. From these paragraphs note a few of these thoughts:       The Lord's messengers should not complain that their efforts are without fruit, until they repent of their love of approbation, and their desire to please men, which leads them to suppress truth. 

Those ministers who are men-pleasers, who cry, Peace, peace, when God has not spoken peace, might well humble their hearts before God, asking pardon for their insincerity and their lack of moral courage. It is not from love for their neighbor that they smooth down the message entrusted to them, but because they are self-indulgent and ease-loving. True love seeks first the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Those who have this love will not evade the truth to save themselves from the unpleasant results of plain speaking. When souls are in peril, God's ministers will not consider self, but will speak the word given them to speak, refusing to excuse or palliate evil.(p. 141)

Are souls imperiled by false doctrine? Then, what should be our duty when we see heresies being taught and palmed off for present truth? To us the answers are clear and our duty plain.

p 5 -- ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN 1977 -- Religious New Service reports that the Pope urged the Conference of Secretaries of World Confessional Families composed of Anglican, Protestant, Orthodox, Old Catholic, and other Christian bodies to unceasing pursuit of the goal of "full unity in Christ and in the Church" despite "all obstacles." Dr. B. B. Beach, secretary of this conference, who is also Secretary of the Northern Europe West Africa Division of the Church, "noted the audience with the Pope marked the first time in history that the Seventh-day Adventist Church, through an official representative, had met with the Roman pontiff." (May 19, 1977)

A letter from Robert Welsh of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches reveals the relationship between the Conference of Secretaries of World Confessional Families, and the WCC through its commission, and how Dr. Beach is paid for his work for the conference of which he is secretary. Mr. Welsh writes:             With regard to Dr. Beach, he is Secretary of the Annual Conference of Secretaries of World Confessional Families. Faith and Order relates to that conference in a consultative manner. Dr. Beach is neither paid for his services by Faith and Order nor by the World Confessional Families, but rather provides his service as the secretary to their annual meeting as a part of his position as the Secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Northern Europe. (Letter dated, April 1, 1975)

Does not this "first" for the Church reflect the practical outworking of the dogmatic assertion found in the legal reply brief filed by the attorneys for the Church in the Civil Case of EEOC vs. PPPA in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California when it was affirmed:       Although it is true that there was a period in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church when the denomination took a distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint, and the term "hierarchy" was used in a pejorative sense to refer to the papal form of church governance, that attitude on the Church's part was nothing more than a manifestation of widespread antipopery among the conservative protestant denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the last, and which has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned. (p. 4, Footnote #2, No 84, Case #74-2025 CBR)

Need more be said or written?

A TRANSITION OF CONCEPT -- In the first issue of The Signs of the Times(June 4, 1874) of which James White was Editor, an editorial listed the "Fundamental Principles" taught by Seventh-day Adventists. This statement was prefaced with a comment that while the list of

p 6 -- beliefs were not presented with creedal authority, nevertheless it was "a brief statement of what is, and has been, with great unanimity, held by them." Number 13 on the list is of particular interest in the light of what is taking place in our attitude and relationship to the Papacy. It read:      13. That, as the man of sin, the papacy has thought to change times and laws (the law of God, Daniel 7:25), and has misled almost all Christendom in regard to the fourth commandment; we find a prophecy of a reform in this respect to be wrought among believers just before the coming of Christ. (Isa. 56:1-2; 1 Peter 1:5; Rev. 14:12, etc.)

This same position - word for word - was found in another list authored by Uriah Smith (Review & Herald, August 22, 1912). One paragraph which prefaced this list contained the sentence - "The following propositions may be taken as a summary of the principle features of their [Seventh-day Adventist's] religious faith, and upon which there is, so far as is known, entire unanimity throughout the body." (p. 4). Thus up to 1912, at least, there was no question as to the position of the Church in regard to the Papacy. It was "the man of sin" of Bible prophecy! No one in the Church, be he an official, or a lay person would have sought an audience with "the man of sin," or would he have found fellowship with spiritual Babylon on any level whether in a local ministerial association, or as a member of a commission of the World Council of Churches. And to even suggest that an official of the Church, paid by the sacred tithe could serve as Secretary of one of "Babylon's" Annual Conferences would have been rejected outright as a betrayal of the faith.

Come now to the present. Look at the Year Book (1977) under "Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists", or in the Church Manual under the same title, or in Questions on Doctrine, (pp. 11-18), and you will d(?) no mention of the Papacy as "the man of sin." This has been deleted. Does this explain why we can state in a legal brief that this teaching "has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned"? (See above article, last reference.)

A NEW BOOK -- From the Pontifical Gregorian University Press in Rome comes a book - From Sabbath to Sunday - written by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, assistant professor of religion at Andrews University. This book is based on Dr. Bacchiocchi's "research for the Ph. D. degree, which he earned" at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1974. This university is "known throughout the world as the alma mater of popes, cardinals, and bishops." (The Voice of Prophecy News, Nov., 1977, p. 4)

"The book was published with the Roman Catholic imprimatur, and is prefaced by a distinguished Jesuit scholar, Father Vincenzo Monachino, chairman of the church history department at the Pontifical Gregorian University and director of Dr. Bacchiocchi's dissertation. Father Monachino writes, 'It is a work that recommends itself because of its rich content, the rigorous scientific method, and the vast horizon with which it has been conceived and executed.'" (Ibid.)

p 7 -- Have the Jesuits been converted? Was it merely coincidental that the "first non-Catholic accepted as a regular student in the 425 history of the Pontifical Gregorian University" happened to be a "Seventh-day Adventist" in profession? Is it accidental that his dissertation was on the Sabbath question, and accepted with Jesuit approbation? How is it that one moves immediately from his classes at Rome to a chair of religion at Andrews? Is Rome indeed taking a new look at the Sabbath and thus planning to join in its proclamation to enlighten the whole earth with the knowledge of the glory of God's truth?

Perhaps it might be well if we would just take our Great Controversy from the shelf and reread again some of its warnings. For example:      The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned; and the Protestant world are inclined to accept the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the barbarism of the times, and plead that the influence of modern civilization has changed her sentiments. 

Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So far from being relinquished, this claim was affirmed in the nineteenth century with greater positiveness than ever before. As Rome asserts that the church "never erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err," how can she renounce the principles which governed her course in past ages? (pp. 563-64)

Is Rome now planning to renounce her change of the Sabbath which is and has been "a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters"? Or rather can we see in all of this what was written for our admonition:       The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise to difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. (Great Controversy, p. 234)

It is "a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means." (Ibid, P. 235) Jesus said - "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24.)

p 8 -- ANOTHER ITEM OF INTEREST FROM THE VOICE OF PROPHECY NEWS -- Under a photocopy of a picture presented to Dr. Billy Graham at the close of his recent Hungarian Crusade, this explanation is found:      Billy Graham says he was "moved to tears" when this painting, "The Miraculous Catch," was presented to him during his recent visit to Hungary. Painted by an undisclosed artist, the work was described as "a Hungarian national treasure." It depicts the incident recorded in Luke 5:1-11. The painting was presented to Graham by Sandor Palotay. Himself a Seventh-day Adventist, Palotay is president of the Council of Free Churches in Hungary, an alliance of small denominations that sponsored Graham's week-long visit. According to Palotay, the 12,000 to 15,000 people who gathered to hear the well known American evangelist preach at Tahai, a rural community 30 miles west of Budapest, were the largest crowd to gather for a Protestant service in the predominantly Roman Catholic country since before World War II. During his visit to Hungary, Graham called at the headquarters of the nation's Ecumenical Council of Churches, where he met Reformed Bishop Tibor Bartha, chairman of the council, and Lutheran Bishop Zoltan Kaldy. He also met with Jewish leaders in Budapest and visited with Roman Catholic Bishop Jozsef Cserhati. (p. 5)

Need we wait for the storm to break in all of its fury before we determine which way the wind is blowing? Are not the words of the angel to Lot apropos - "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." (Gen. 19:17) And the words of Jesus, how full of meaning - "Remember Lot's wife." (Luke 17:32). 

DEC 1977 "Watchman, What of the Night? " Thought Paper.  Adventist Laymen's Foundation.  (Excerpt)