Truth Magazine

By James H. Shewmaker

This is the northern midwest United States. None of these states has more than 10 sound congregations. I know of only one self-supporting church in these states.

There are only 30 congregations in a 7 state region. The population of this area is about 11,159,335. The area consists of 599,783 square miles. Many other states have several times as many congregations as this entire region has.

The statistics mentioned in the above paragraph were derived from Directory of Churches of Christ 1986 and from the 1986 Rand McNally Road Atlas.

It may not sound as impressive to say “We support men in the midwest” as it does to say “We support men overseas” but the work is here and many have never had much exposure to the truth.

This is not to detract at all from the work in other areas. These works need support, also. However, many churches want to send support to areas where it is needed the most and we do not want you ignorant of the needs in this region.

Many churches have had a hard time keeping preachers, due to the preachers having difficulty raising support for the work in this area.

Much of the problem, I am sure is related to the fact that many are unaware of the fact that this region is as difficult as it is.

Although I have lived in this area before, the work in Grinnell is the first full-time work I have engaged in as a preacher in this region. It is the fourth place I have been in since beginning full-time preaching.

I have been seeking outside support because the congregation in Grinnell can no longer afford even the support they were supplying me during the first six months, especially since the family which had accounted for the largest contribution has moved away.

In spite of the fact that I have sent several hundred letters, at the time of this writing I have yet to have even one church agree to send to my support on a regular monthly basis.

The denominations refer to areas where the work is difficult as mission fields. As this term does carry territorial connotations in its popular religious usage, I prefer the term “Hard fields.” Young man if you have been thinking of going to hard fields, we have them waiting right here. It’s a good training ground for work in foreign fields.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 14, p. 431
July 16, 1987

By Ron Halbrook

The occult includes all modem claims of demon activity, astrology or horoscopes, magic, divination, psychic phenomena, and necromancy or communication with 11the dead. God warned the Jews to accept the word of His inspired prophets and to reject all the false claims of occult powers in the heathen religions. Predictions failing to come to pass is a key sign that such claims are false (Deut. 18:9-22). Isaiah refused the voice of those who “peep” and “mutter” in pretended communication with the dead, and added,

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa. 8:19-20).

God speaks to modem man through the words of Jesus Christ who completed all divine revelation through his chosen writers in the first century (Heb. 1:1-2; 2:1-4). The genuine miracles of Christ and his apostles have never been matched by anyone. All claims to occult power today are based on fiction – lying wonders which deceive (2 Thess. 2:9-10).

Who promotes this fiction? Nostradamus (1503-66) was a French astrologer who used divining rods and other occult devices and magical delusions common in antiquity. He wrote “prophecies” in almanacs, and then in obscure rhymes of four lines each which were published as Ten Centuries – i.e. 1,000 predictions. He admits writing in “dark and abstruse sentences.” His predictions have been revered, republished, and pawned off on a new generation several times since he lived.

Edgar Cayce (1872-1945) lived in Kentucky and Virginia, offering messages called “readings” while under a pretended “trance.” Published “readings” blend psychology, folk medicine, evolution, Eastern mysticism, Western mediumship, and even a little Bible. He professed to speak with the dead to tell the future, to heal, to uncover reincarnated lives, to interpret dreams, and to reveal new visions of Jesus. Cayce claimed “no less than direct communion with God.” “Ipsab” was a snake oil cure-all he mixed.

Jeane Dixon (1918- ) of Washington, D.C. professes to be Elijah’s intellect reincarnated and is well known for her horoscopes and predictions. Her messages comes from dreams, ESP, touching pictures, reading cards, and peering into crystal balls. Her avowed gifts include “physical and mental healing” – as saving heart patients with “cod-liver oil” -and spiritual guidance. Jesus appears to her often and she has “direct contact with the Lord” through her occult powers, we are told.

Since the occult is fiction rather than fact, why do some of its predictions seem to be fulfilled – such as Dixon predicting President Kennedy’s death?

Can The Occult Really Forecast The Future?

The Bible teaches that false claims to prophecy are exposed when predictions fail to come to pass (Deut. 18:22). Yet, it has been widely publicized that Jeane Dixon claims to have predicted President Kennedy’s death. A number of other psychics made the same claim. Does this mean their powers are real? Popular public figures like Kennedy attract many efforts at prophecy. Before his death, psychics were forecasting several scenarios such as Kennedy will be reelected, will be defeated, will resign, will not run again, or will be assassinated. With so many predictions floating around, someone was sure to hit it right – and then use that circumstance to claim mystical powers! The hit is well publicized before a gullible public.

It takes only one documented failure to expose a pretended prognosticator as a fraud. Jeane Dixon, like all the rest, has failed many, many times, but that is such a common thing that it does not get the publicity. A few of her flops in A Gift of Prophecy include: World War III was to occur in 1958 (p.x); “Russia will be the first nation to put a man on the moon” (p. 186); “racial strife” in the U.S. will end in 1980 (p. 106). From My Life and Prophecies.- Sargent Shriver will be elected Governor and then President (p. 239); a major “natural phenomenon” in 1985 will change history’s course and “interfere with the Soviet plan for world conquest” (p. 168); President Lyndon Johnson will live to be “an elder statesman” (pp. 165-66); Bishop James A. Pike will find a 44new vocation” (p. 165) – but he died in the deserts of Israel before her book got on the news stands!

Consider the differences between true Bible prophecies and fraudulent occult predictions. Notice that the nature of the frauds will permit a few lucky hits:

Occult Prediction	Bible Prophecy
Some Written After the Event	All Written Before the Event (Matt. 2:3-8)
Failures Not Publicized	No Failures – Whole Bible Preserved and Subject to Examination (1 Pet. 1:24-25; 2 Pet. 1:16-21)
Often Use Vague & Obscure Language – Subject to Widely Divergent Applications	Use Language of Common Man – Fulfillment Easily Recognized (Mk. 12:37; Eph. 3:3-5; Acts 2:16; 13:33)
List of Predictions So Long That Some Have to Hit	Every Prophecy Fulfilled in Its Proper Time Without Exception (Matt. 5:18; Gal. 4:4)
Several Contradictory Predictions Made by Different People – One Will Seem to be “Fulfilled”	“All the Prophets” Spoke in Harmony – All, Not Just One or Two, Fulfilled (Lk. 24:25-27, 45-49; Acts 3:24)

The occult is based on fraud and deception from start to finish. The Bible is the only true word of God, containing the only genuine prophecies in all of history as a mark of its divine inspiration.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 14, p. 430
July 16, 1987

By Mark Mayberry

Current Facts

In 1981 the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, headquartered in Washington, D.C., had 3,668,000 members worldwide.(1) In recent years, their goal has been to add I million new members by 1985. Achieving this goal would have required an average of 1,000 daily converts. From their statistics, it appears that they succeeded. In 1985 they claimed 4.5 million members meeting together in 24,000 congregations scattered throughout 184 countries.(2) Over 1/2 million of their membership is in the United States. If these statistics are true, the Seventh Day Adventist Church is one of the fastest growing denominations in the world.

History

In the late 18th and the early 19th centuries, many religious leaders believed that the second coming of Christ was imminent. It was in this atmosphere that William Miller (1782-1849) began to preach. Once a skeptic, in time he was converted to the Baptist Church and became a minister. Miller was a self-taught man with little formal education. After extensive study of Daniel and Revelation, he predicted that Christ would return in glory on March 21, 1844. Upon his return, the Lord would cleanse the Earth by fire and usher in the millennium. Miller gained quite a following, estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000 people. Religious fervor was high, and there was great anticipation over the Lord’s return. Unfortunately, Christ didn’t return on the specified date, so Miller set another one- October 22, 1844. When this day passed without event, the “Great Disappointment” occurred. Many “Millerites” lost their faith and drifted away.

At this point Ellen G. White (1827-1915) entered the picture. She claimed to see a vision in which followers of the Adventist faith were ushered into heaven, and this gave the movement a much needed boost of morale. Then she reinterpreted Miller’s predictions. She said he was right on the date but wrong on the event. According to Mrs. White, on October 22, 184 the Lord went into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. There he began to judge and investigate the lives of the believers. She taught that when Jesus finished this “investigative judgment,” he would return to the earth and the millennium would begin. As a result, this 17 year old woman saved the movement that was started by William Miller and eventually she became the leader of Seventh Day Adventism.

Unique Doctrines

1. Mrs. White: A Prophetess. Adventists view Ellen G. White as a prophetess, and her writings serve as the basis of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. She supposedly received over 2,000 visions from God. She wrote 53 full length books on every subject that could possibly concern the church. She also wrote 5,000 articles, and countless letters to individuals.(3) Tens of millions of her books have been sold. Just one of her books, Steps to Christ, has sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into 80 languages.(4)

The Seventh Day Adventist Church claims to accept the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice, but they also believe in “the spirit of prophecy.” Mrs. White is held as virtually infallible by many Adventists, and in practice, her writings are viewed as equal with the Bible. Officially the church holds that there are no discrepancies between Mrs. White’s visions and the teaching of the Bible. They believe that God spake through her a century ago, and her counsel is as dependable today as it was then.(5)

In recent years, questions about her inspiration and authority have arisen from within the denomination. Walter Rea, an Adventist minister from Patterson, CA, spent two years analyzing the writings of Mrs. White. After extensive research, he concluded that she was a plagiarist. This charge had been made before, but never by an official in the Adventist Church. Rea alleged that she borrowed from many 19th century writers. She quoted from at least 75 different books without giving credit and then passed the ideas off as her own.(6) Rea estimated that 80% of her writings were lifted almost word for word from other works.(7) According to Mr. Rea, “The borrowing wasn’t a sentence here or a word there. It was her habit to copy from the beginning of her writings to the end.”(8) This throws cold water on Mrs. White’s claim that she received her messages directly from God. Such blatant plagiarism destroys her claim to divine inspiration and raises serious questions about her honesty. It is not surprising that Mr. Rea was thrown out of the church after he published his conclusions in a book entitled The White Lie.

Church officials defend Mrs. White by saying that she is no less a prophetess because she selectively used outside material, just as biblical writers sometimes used quotations from apocryphal literature. The big difference is that the New Testament writers acknowledged it when they quoted from other writers (cf. Acts 17:28), and they only did it occasionally.

Christians recognize that the Bible is our only rule of faith. It is complete and all-sufficient, containing all that we need to believe and practice (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3; Jn. 8:31-32). The faith has been once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), and as a result, there is no place in God’s scheme for latter-day prophets such as Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, or Ellen G. White.

2. The Sabbath. In 1847, Mrs. White claimed she saw the Ten Commandments in a vision. There was a halo around the 4th commandment, and an angel explained to her that Saturday must be kept as the Christian Sabbath. As a result, Seventh Day Adventists worship on Saturday. While it is true that God rested after the creation, observing the Sabbath became a binding ordinance for man only after the Law of Moses was established (Ex. 16:22-31; 20:8-11). We must remember that the Mosaic Law was specifically for the Jewish nation. Christians understand that it is no longer in force (Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:14-17).

3. Diet and Health. Adventists observe various dietary regulations. “Probably no religious movement, ancient or modem, has put greater emphasis on diet and nutrition than the Seventh Day Adventist Church.”(9) Many of Mrs. White’s visions dealt with diet. She taught that meat, alcohol, tobacco, all narcotics and stimulants must be avoided. She advocated the consumption of natural foods and urged her followers to eat a balanced diet. Even today, 50% of their membership are practicing vegetarians.(10) As a whole, Adventist males between the ages of 35 and 40 have a 6.2 year longer life expectancy than the general population. Females have a 3.1 year greater life expectancy.(11) Good eating habits are to be commended, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to bind religious laws where God has not spoken (1 Cor. 8:8; Col. 2:16; 1 Tim. 4:3-5).

As previously discussed, Mrs. White was in the habit of borrowing other. people’s ideas. This was not limited simply to books on history, doctrine and the Bible. Historian Ronald Numbers, in his book Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White, alleges that she also lifted ideas from 19th century health reformers and diet faddists.(12) Many of her visions concerning diet and nutrition were simply reflections of the contemporary views of the society of that day.

The modern breakfast food industry owes its beginning to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. John Kellogg, the first to make breakfast cereal, was an Adventist. He served as a physician in an Adventist hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. While searching for different kinds of vegetable foods, he created peanut butter and corn flakes. The records are rather vague, but it appears that Mr. Kellogg offered the Adventist Church the patent rights to wheat and corn flakes. This would have made the sect fabulously wealthy, but Mrs. White rejected the idea because she felt it would take too much time. Eventually Kellogg left the church after he questioned the infallibility of Mrs. White’s visions.(13)

Seventh-Day Adventists continue to be noted for their medical missionaries, sanitariums, and concern for sound health practices. As recently as 1976 they had 421 medical institutions worldwide.(14)

4. Tithing. Adventists stress tithing. As a whole, they contribute more than do members of other denominations, giving an average of $486 per person per year.(15) They often give an additional 10% of their income to missions and related church works.(16) Such generosity is commendable, but quotas or percentages ought not to be set. Tithing was a part of the Old Law. Christians are to give as they have been prospered (I Cor. 16:1-1; 2 Cor. 8:1-5; 9:6-8).

5. The Investigative Judgment. Adventists hold to the doctrine of the investigative judgment. Mrs. White claimed that in 1844 the Lord entered into the heavenly sanctuary and began to judge the faithful. In recent years this key doctrine has been under attack from within the Seventh Day Adventist Church itself. At the center of this controversy is Desmond Ford, a prominent Australian theologian who taught at Pacific Union College in California. He argued that the sanctuary doctrine does not stand up to the light of God’s Word. It is interesting to note that Mr. Ford was “defrocked” in 1980 because of his position.”(17) Obviously the Adventist establishment is not pleased with those who question their long held beliefs.

We acknowledge that Mr. Ford was right on this point. Remember that the investigative judgment doctrine was formulated after the Lord failed to return on October 22, 1844. It was Mrs. White’s reinterpretation of Miller’s date that saved the Adventist movement. We recognize that Miller’s efforts at setting a date for the Second Coming were wrong to begin with (Matt. 24:36,42; 1 Thess. 5:1-3; 2 Pet. 3:10). Furthermore, the Bible affirms that the judgment will occur when the Lord returns (2 Cor. 5: 10; Rev. 20:10-15).

Conclusion

In recent years the Adventist Church has been plunged into a crisis of identity and authority. Some of their own scholars have begun to question both the inspiration and the doctrines of Mrs. White. By 1982, approximately 120 dissatisfied ministers had resigned or had been forced to leave the church.(18) We can only hope that their search for truth will lead them back to the Bible.

Endnotes

1. Conrad Wright, “Adventist,” Downloaded from Knowledge Index 6/12/85. Reference Section: Academic American Encyclopedia (Corp. Arete Publishing Co., 1984).

2. “7th Day Adventists Boast Growth As Delegates Consider Reports,” Tyler Morning Telegraph, 6 July 1985, Sec. 4, p. 6.

3. John Cook, “A Church Whose Members Have Less Cancer,” The Saturday Evening Post, March, 1984, p. 41.

4. Cook, p. 41.

5. Kenneth L. Woodward, “A False Prophetess?,” Newsweek, 19 January 1981, p. 72.

6. Richard N. Ostling, “The Church of Liberal Borrowings,” Time, 2 August 1982, p. 49.

7. Woodward, p. 72.

8. Woodward, p. 72.

9. Cook, p. 40.

10. “Seventh-day Adventist: Food for Thought,” The Saturday Evening Post, March, 1984, p. 42.

11. “Seventh-day Adventist: Food for Thought,” p. 42.

12. “Prophet of Plagiarist?,” Time, 2 August 1976, p. 43.

13. “Prophet or Plagiarist?,” p. 43.

14. “Prophet or Plagiarist?,” p. 43.

15. “Prophet or Plagiarist?,” p. 43.

16. Leslie R. Keylock, “What Seventh day Adventists Believe,” Christianity Today, 19 October 1984, p. 22.

17. Ostling, p. 49.

18. Ostling, p. 49.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 14, pp. 424-425
July 16, 1987

By C. Dale Garrison

As I read the article, “Immodesty” by brother Abernathy (June 4, #11), I had several thoughts which I must express. I would be greatly amiss in my duty to the Gospel of Christ and my fellow Christians if I were not to voice them. First, I must say, “Amen” to the truth which was taught in the writing of brother Abernathy’s article. Today’s Christian needs to hear the truth of the Word of God taught in this loving, but clear manner. Amen!

All Christians need to study, keep in mind and live by these verses; “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14). “Come out from among them and be separate, do not touch what is unclean” (2 Cor. 6:17; also read Phil. 2:15; 1 Pet. 2:9-11; 4:3-4).

In short, what these verses are saying is very simple. If we are to live a godly life, all Christians, male and female alike, must live according to the standard which is set by God and not the standard set by the world! We are God’s people and must come out of the world! We are a special people who must live by God’s Word and Will, not man’s fashions or morals. We are not to be like those who are children of Satan! They openly disobey the Word of God, live guided by their own passions and are involved in things which are abominable in His sight. We are not to let the world set our standards for speech, lifestyle, relationships or our dress.

Christian men, both old and young, we need to understand that like the women, we must also wear modest clothing. Some of us seem to be caught up in the double standards of the world when it comes to dress. All too many Christian men see nor think anything about wearing see through shirts or going around with no shirt at all. It seems to be considered to be “ok” for our young men to wear shorts, but it is a sin for the ladies. Men wear tight jeans, yet teach that it is sinful for the ladies. My brothers in Christ, God’s command for modesty applies to us as well as our sisters in Christ. God does not have a double standard for that which is modest, moral or appropriate. Paul writes, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge, practice the same things” (Rom. 2:1ff). “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

We do not control the world or the people who live according to the doctrine of Satan, but we can teach our children to observe God’s Word. We are to teach our sons and daughters to dress in a godly way. We can teach our young men and our young women to seek to date, befriend, admire and marry those who choose to serve God in not only in Word, but also in dress and manner of life. When as children of God we admire those who are worldly, immodest and immoral, we are condoning their sin. When we choose Satan’s children above the children of God, we are not living by what Paul teaches in Romans 12:9-17. Note verse 10, “we are to prefer one another.”

Brothers, young and old, husbands and singles, we need to show our sisters in Christ that we appreciate their godly dress and modest ways. We must go to those who are living in sin and teach God’s Word. We can not only edify our sisters by preferring them over the women of the world, but we can help them continue in their righteous ways. Men and brethren, each and every one of us plays a big role in what our sisters in Christ, our wives and our daughters choose to wear. Is it not time we Christian men start living by the same Word we use to judge and admonish our sisters in Christ? Are we going to honor the women who live in God’s way and rebuke those who are living by Satan’s way? Or are we going to conform to the double standards of this world? “Choose you this day whom you will serve.”

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 14, p. 420
July 16, 1987