WALTER MARTIN’S
1983 LECTURE
On February 22, 1983, Walter Martin gave a
lecture in Napa, California, which we transcribed and printed on pages 68-71 of The
Evangelical Conferences, a 120-page tractbook documentary on the entire Martin-Barnhouse
talks with our leaders in the mid -1950’s, and the books, magazine articles, and
furor that followed it for over 20 years.
In that lecture, Dr. Martin flatly stated
that the Seventh-day Adventist denomination was in danger of repudiating the Evangelical
doctrines it espoused in the book, Questions on Doctrine. He said that he was in the
process of making contact with our church leaders in Washington D.C. and urging them to
reprint that book. He mentioned that they had not yet replied to his request, but he said
that he accompanied it with a threat to publish piles of material that had been sent him
against the Adventist Church if they did not do so.
Now that this new book, Seventh-day
Adventists Believe has been printed—and mirrors so closely the errors found in
Questions on Doctrine,—the very real question confronts us at this time whether it is
possible that THIS NEW BOOK is the means our church leaders are using to satisfy the
demands of Dr. Martin, while at the same time satisfying the demands of our own people not
to reprint Questions on Doctrine.
Here are excerpts from that 1983 talk by
Dr. Martin, a more complete copy of which is to be found in our tractbook documentary,
named above.
In that book I discussed various cult
structures, and one of the groups that I mentioned was the Seventh-day Adventists. I was
contacted shortly afterwards by a very fine Christian man now with the Lord, T. E. Unruh,
a Seventh-day Adventist. He was concerned that I, an expert on cults, would classify him
and Seventh-day Adventists along with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, and Christian
Science. He asked for a meeting so we could talk about it. I said: I’m always
interested in truth, always interested in examine facts and evidence; yes, I’d be
glad to meet with you. I met with him; and that meeting let to another series of meetings
with a committee appointed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (which is
the highest government body of the Adventist denomination).
We met together. We proceeded to discuss
together issues of Seventh-day Adventism. This was the first time that this had ever
happened in the history of that denomination. As a result of it, after these got going,
the then president of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, Reuben Figuhr (who is still
alive) appointed this study for the purpose of arriving at an area of discussion and of
truth, so that there would be a bridge between Evangelical Christianity and Seventh-day
Adventism, and that the communication gap could be bridged.
Now these meetings went on over a period
of two years. Literally hundreds and hundreds of hours of work and research were gone into
it.
It seemed that it would be a good idea to
publish a book on the subject that would answer questions
about Seventh-day Adventist theology. I went with this
proposal to Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, my teacher, who was absolutely
convinced that Seventh-day Adventism was a non-Christian
cult, and thought I had lost whatever reasoning I had by
coming back with material that indicated otherwise.
We had a long session and Dr. Barnhouse
said: "I think you should investigate this further." So with that I proceeded to
meet with the Adventists—with Professor George Cannon, with the great Adventist
historian, Professor Leroy Froom; W. E. Read, one of the top researchers of Old Testament
material; T. E. Unruh, one of their conference presidents; and of course, with Roy Allan
Anderson, Editor of the "Ministry Magazine."
It was agreed that my book, "The
Truth About Seventh-day Adventism," would be released in Seventh-day Adventist
bookstores. It was agreed that we would push their volume in Evangelical bookstores, so
that more than four-thousand stores could get the information, and get it through the
Adventists and through the Evangelicals. It was not a tiny project. It was a great
project. It had the support of the president of the General Conference and the committees
he personally appointed. We had cooperation from everybody in attempting it. It was not
considered to be a new statement of faith but an expansion of what they considered to be
historic Seventh-day Adventism.
Now we learned early on in our discussions
that there was a division in Seventh-day Adventism that had to be recognized. There was a
lunatic fringe that believed doctrines that appalled even the Adventists. And I came in
one day with a suitcase, literally a suitcase, full of publications from Adventist
publishing houses. Before I opened the suitcase, I said to my brothers on the committee,
do you know that your denomination teaches these things? And I listed them, and they were
appalled. I said I have the mark of the beast, and they looked at each other and said~
"Impossible!" I said, "Well I have." I said, "I have been told
that by three Adventist publishing houses." "NO!" I said, "Yes."
I said, "It gets even worse brothers. It says here in your publications that Jesus
didn’t complete the atonement on the cross. It says here in your publication—and
I went down the line on the subject. "Impossible!" I said, "Alright,"
I said, "Look in the suitcase." So I put the suitcase up on the table and spread
out about two hundred documents. And they spent a couple of days going through the
documents. When they came back, they said, "Who would ever have believed that all of
this was in print." and; "We certainly have to do something about it
immediately." I said, "Good! But this is what is confusing the whole Evangelical
world and this is what is confusing the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. You’ve
got to speak with one voice on the great foundations of the gospel. You’ve got to
speak with one voice so the sheep (the people) can hear it. And there are problems. You
must face them."
WALTER R MARTIN
"WE MUST HELP THE ADVENTISTS
SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM"
February 22, 1983—Napa, California
In 1955 I published a book called
"The Rise of The Cults."
They were very responsive, and we entered
into work in earnest. "Questions on Doctrine" was published. It was a great
success. More than 150,000 copies went forth. And then strange things began to happen. I
published my book about Seventh-day Adventism, and the General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists refused to put it in Adventist book stores. That was our first clue that there
were some problems on high levels. Secondly we began to find out that there were
Adventists writing us, who were saying; "This is not what the Adventist Church really
believes.
You have been deceived." And they
gave us information Then other ministers and others began to come to us giving us more
in-formation. We went back over the information. It was a great sifting process.
Then we began to realize that a great body
of information was beginning to surface, and progressively it has over the years. I could
not bring here tonight all of the material which I have collected now and preach in the
Search Institute. Suffice it to say there are four cartons, that would be stacked up to
the height of this pulpit, of material which is coming from Adventists all over the world,
pointing out to us things which are still inconsistent in the denomination.
What I want to begin with is to tell you,
that there are Seventh-day Adventists, a great body of them, who are born-again
Christians, and love the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. That is absolutely true. In
fact some of the Adventists are here tonight. Then there are some important
representatives of Seventh-day Adventism who are at this point beginning to move the
denomination back from where they came in 1957.
This group believes that Jesus Christ had
a sinful human nature. This group believes that the atonement was not completed on the
cross. This group believes that Ellen G. White is not only a prophetess of God, but that
Ellen G. White was an infallible interpreter of the Bible,
A prophet is not without honor except in
his own country and among his own people, she [Ellen White said. The Scripture also says
that a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph, which means there have been some very subtle and
progressive changes going on in Seventh-day Adventism theology. They have reached a crisis
point.
It is not a small group of people anymore
that are disenchanted. We have hundreds and hundreds of letters from Adventist pastors,
missionaries, and leaders. They are more than disenchanted with some of the things that
they are seeing. We also have a body of information now which originally the denomination
denied existed but which now exists, and is documented evidence. It is therefore very
important to understand that our Seventh-day Adventist brothers and sisters, who want to
stay with "Questions on Doctrine" are sticking with what I was told, and Dr.
Barnhouse was told and the Evangelical world was told in 1957 and through 1960.
These people are in great jeopardy right
now. They need a lot of prayer and a lot of support, because they are trying to hang on to
the basic foundations, whereas an "old guard" with Seventh-day Adventism in
positions of power and authority are very systematically rooting out the people that do
not agree with this. That is simply going right now, and it is denied as absolute folly.
The core of the entire problem is the role
of Ellen G. White in Seventh-day Adventism and the Sanctuary doctrine, which has generated
enormous controversy. Now, tonight we don’t have time to go through four boxes of
material. We do not have time to review all the problems connected with Adventist
theology.
This is very important: If you have an
infallible interpreter then you have developed a paper pope - Now the move is afoot to establish the papacy of Mrs.
White, and that move is deadly.
The claim was made for Mrs. White in
"Questions on Doctrine" and in Adventist publications, that she is not a
canonical writer of scripture . - that is the claim in "Questions on Doctrine."
I was originally told by some Seventh-day
Adventists, that in the early days of the Church, they maintained that they were the
"Remnant Church," to the exclusion of all others. I said that’s heresy,
there is no remnant church, there is only the body of Christ. You can talk about a remnant
to the book of Revelation under the tribulation conditions. But we’re not in the
tribulation period. And they said, "Well, our view has been vindicated somewhat"
And they gave me a new statement on it.
I am now getting literature telling us
that we are right back where we were in 1956, and they are indeed the "Remnant
Church"! . - The Seventh-day Adventist denomination in 1957 stated, that it did not
believe that it was the "Remnant Church" to the exclusion of everybody else. Now
we are beginning to get feedback to the contrary. The Adventist Church in the clearest
possible terms stated in 1956, that the atonement of Christ was completed on the cross,
that it was over with, no continuation. We are now beginning to receive considerable
material quite the opposite The Adventist Church told us in
1956 that Jesus Christ had an absolutely sinless nature, and they repudiated publications
even by their own magazines, that said
that Christ had a sinful human nature.
In 1957, the Adventist denomination said
nobody will be excommunicated for not understanding or believing in, in effect, Mrs.
White’s prophetic gift. Today people are being excommunicated from the denomination
because they call under question those things. Now these are issues that the Adventist
church must face.
I do not question the integrity of the
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. I have addressed a series of questions to
them and I am eagerly awaiting their response to those questions.
What I did in 1956, I have done again for
the purpose of helping my Adventist brothers and sisters and the whole body of Christ.
Seventh-day Adventism has made enormous strides and has made great contributions to the
life of the Christian church. Their medical works are unchallenged. Their dedication I
have seen in the mission fields of the world.
The fact that they are concerned and do
preach Christ and the many people that have come to Christ through that preaching is
undeniable. But side by side, there has grown up with this, a body of teaching which if
permitted to continue will classify Seventh-day Adventism along with the cults all over
again.
One of the great highlights of my life,
was to stand in Jerusalem with Roy Allan Anderson of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
about ten years ago, and there to see a Seventh-day Adventist minister serve communion, an
ecumenical prophetic conference for the whole church of Christ, with thousands of people
there, and they asked Roy to serve communion. Before Dr. Barn-house’s work and my
work in 1956 to 1960, Roy Anderson would have been considered by that group, unworthy of
an invitation and would never have been received as a Christian minister. But the Holy
Spirit took that work and "Questions on Doctrine" and that committee; and Reuben
Figuhr who had the courage to do it, and they transformed the image of Seventh-day
Adventism - Now the great threat is that it may go back again. This cannot be permitted to
happen if at all possible in the body of Christ. We must fight for the integrity of our
Seventh-day Adventist brothers to believe what their church says they believed.
That’s the real question, whether they stay with "Questions on Doctrine"
and back it, will they republish it?
They deliberately suppressed it at one
time. It was up for publication. I have the whole story. It was suppressed by powers of
the Adventist denomination that didn’t agree with what it said. Well what did it say?
I’ll tell you. This is what "Questions on Doctrine" said: that the trinity
is Biblical theology and is to be believed; that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh with a
perfect human nature; that He died on the cross and paid the price for all our sins once
for all. "Questions on Doctrine" said, he rose bodily from the dead, he is sent
to heaven as our great High Priest. "Questions on Doctrine" said, the atonement
was finished on the cross. Questions on Doctrine" said, salvation is solely by grace
through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what it said, and that’s good solid
Christian theology.
Today, we are hearing voices within the
Adventist denomination that are not teaching good solid Christian theology. They are
teaching heresies which the church originally repudiated.
I even have to say that Mrs. White is a
false prophet, that she is an enemy of the gospel. I have received, you wouldn’t
believe how many letters, and how many telephone calls, from people trying to get me to
write an article on Ellen White, the false prophet. I have been trying to do so. Now
I’m going on record with this publicly, it’ll probably offend some people, but
it has to be said. Joseph Smith denied the great doctrines of the Bible. Joseph Smith was
a false prophet. False prophets are known by the fact that they are enemies of the cross
of Christ. That is the mark of a false prophet. Enemies of God, who turn you away from the
Lord, your God. That is what a false prophet is. Tomorrow night we talk about Mormonism,
and we’ll see that very clearly.
Mrs. White by that definition could never
be called a false prophet. She did preach the gospel. She did draw Christ; only read her
book "Steps to Christ," you’ll recognize that. Mrs. White exercised, I
believe, at certain times, spiritual gifts. But Mrs. White was a sinner saved by grace.
There is no need for any investigative
judgment at any time, because Jesus took care of it all on the cross. If you have the kind
of a God that’s got to go over a set of books to decide whether or not you have been
justified, you have not got the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible knew who was
justified before time began. He did not need the Millerite movement of 1843 to update Him
on it. or 1844. The Bible does not teach that Jesus Christ went from the first apartment
of the heavenly sanctuary into the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844, but
the Bible teaches at His resurrection Jesus Christ entered into the holiest of all with
His own blood, and it obtained eternal redemption for us.
The doctrine of the incomplete atonement
is incomplete reality. It is not Christian theology. It denies justification by faith.
There is a book published by the Adventist denomination now. It’s called the
"Omega" book. This has to be repudiated as rapidly as possible, if the
Adventists are to have credibility in the eyes of the Christian church. Because in that
book they go back to attempting to establish righteousness, not on the basis of grace
alone and salvation by grace alone, but bringing in the very legalism which got them in
the trouble we had years and years ago.
There are lunatic Baptists, Episcopalians.
you name it. I wouldn’t want to be represented by a lunatic Baptist. I don’t
think that a good bunch of Seventh-day Adventists want to be represented by some of the
lunacy that is coming out by Adventist publications today. So I wouldn’t want to
judge that as representative of total Seventh-day Adventism.
But they have a problem. [The Adventists]
And that problem now becomes the problem of the body of Christ. The body of Christ must
work together with them to try and solve it. That is why I have not taken positions
publicly against the General Conference. That is why I have not published lots and lots
and lots of material in Christian magazines when I’ve been asked to. Because the
Adventist denomination deserves the chance to look squarely in the face of questions and
answer them. If they answer them so they repudiate "Questions on Doctrine," they
deserve what happens. And if they will affirm what they said they historically believed,
that the people who are now in positions of power, who are propagating these false
teachings should be removed from the denomination immediately. But godly Adventists should
not be discriminated against, when they are definitely trying to solve the problems.
There are Seventh-day Adventist ministers
in this valley who -have left the Seventh-day Adventists Church out of conviction. Some
have been thrown out of this church by conviction. They deserve the heartfelt apologies of
their denomination.
"Questions on Doctrine" dealt
with this, beautifully, clear-cut. Salvation by grace through faith.
On the basic areas of Christian theology,
Christians of all denominations had better be prepared, as we move toward the end of the
ages, to hang together.
The center of the gospel is evident, and
we’ve got to stay with that. The Seventh-day Adventist denomination will affirm
- the centrality of that gospel, if the
Seventh-day Adventist denomination will repudiate those who are misrepresenting them. If
the Seventh-day Adventist denomination will stop talking out of both sides of the mouth,
then the Christian public and the Adventists will then at last hear one thing.
Let them [the Adventist Church] repudiate
the "Omega" publication, and then let the denomination squarely and forthrightly
say this—here we stand on the foundations we announced in 1956—and discipline
the people that don’t believe in them. Then they will once again have credibility in
the ~eyes of the Evangelical world and in the eyes of many disappointed and frustrated
Adventists.
Martin, preface to Question Period:
"I will be publishing on the subject of the puzzle of Seventh-day Adventism: and what
I publish, on tape and in book form, will be available in over 6,000 Christian bookstores
with 90 days after it is released. So we are going to get a good response from the
Christian public, and now you know why I am concerned, and why I feel this is a matter of
great importance for the Adventists and their fellow Christians,"
Martin: I’m interested in only one
thing: I’m interested in the official position of your denomination, and what it
says. I’m willing to accept what they say is their position as I did in 1956,
provided it is backed up with documentation. And I think that’s fair.
Question from the audience: You will be
having a book come out very soon, and is it Seventh-day Adventism as you presented
tonight, and is it [General] Conference supported?
Answer by Martin: Wait for the book. Wait
for the book. And that will tell you exactly. As I said at the beginning of the lecture,
that I don’t prejudice [or is the word "prejudge"?] the General Conference.
I’m giving them every chance to respond as brothers.
Different questioner: You’re saying
that in your book [you’re going to publish that] you’re going to classify this
church as a cult—.
Martin interjecting: I didn’t say
that. Questioner. Okay, I mean, are you? That’s my question. Martin r(‘ph-:
I’m not answering that question tonight—. Questioner interjecting: Oh,
you’re not answering it tonight—.
Martin interjecting: I’m waiting for
answers myself [from the General Conference] Different questioner: Where in the Bible does
it state that the Sabbath that Jesus kept has been changed to Sunday?
Martin reply: It hasn’t. The
Seventh-day Sabbath still stands as a memorial of Creation. That has not been changed. The
early Christian Church maintained the first day of the week [The majority of the early
Christian Church did not keep Sunday, even down to the fifth century A.D. Read BS—3-4
"The Story of the Change of the Sabbath."]
Conclusion
So now we have come to the end of this
study on the new, May 1988, doctrinal book, Seventh-day
Adventists Believe. But it will only the beginning of a long, hard up hill battle by all
of us to try and maintain our Bible-Spirit of Prophecy beliefs and standards in the church
that God intended should give the final messages to the world before probation closes.
Friends, I tell you sorrowfully that a
tragedy is in the making:
Many thousands of our people will now slip
farther into the grips of the keep-on-sinning new theology crowd that is surfeiting among
us.
The paragraphs, below, are excerpted from
a comment made by the present writer back in the spring of 1 983 as he concluded the
tedious preparation of the eighteen-pad tract set, The Beginning of the End, that
documented the entire Martin-Barnhouse meetings with our leaders and the extensive
after-effects of those sessions. (This documentation is now available in the 120-page
tractbook, The Evangelical Conferences).
For seventeen years he has publicly stated
that Seventh-day Adventism is not a cult. But ;n this lecture it is obvious that be has
been receiving letters from a large number of Fordite Adventists and non-Adventist Fordite
sympathizers who are urging Martin to now revise his classification of our denomination.
As a result Martin says he has contacted
the General Conference and has submitted another listing of doctrinal
"questions" to which be wants "answers" that are satisfactory to
him.
No reply or the wrong reply will be sufficient cause for unpleasant action on his part
"in his new hook "which be will be releasing in a short time.
So those of you who thought you were
reading history now find you are reading current news. And it is news that you should
yourself act upon. In 1955 we were told nothing about Martin’s questions—much
less our answers. Not until the Protestant magazines leaked the news in then’
"bombshell" articles did Adventists, as a whole, learn what was taking place.
Today another set of "questions" has been submitted to the General Conference.
And the Church has known nothing about it. But, fortunately, on February 22 of this year,
Walter Martin told us what was happening.
It is now time to read—and then
WRITE.
Write the General Conference and demand
that our leaders stop yielding to Evangelical demands for doctrinal compromise. We are
compromising with the Evangelicals within our Church on the matter of doctrine. (The
"Evangelicals within our Church" are the Ferrites and "new theology"
advocates.) And now the pressure is on to yield more to the Evangelicals without the
Church.
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