The Abomination of Desolation? Part 1

By H. H. Meyers 1991

Certain ministers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia are presently pre-occupied with establishing Celebration-type churches. The administration seems to have adopted a co-operative, if not sympathetic attitude towards their determined efforts. Typical of such determination is the attitude of Graeme Bradford, pastor of the Wahroonga Seventh-day Adventist Church which now has a celebration-type meeting conducted in the nearby Wahroonga Activities Centre while the divine service is in progress.

He spends much of his time and energy opposing those who have exposed the fraud of Celebration-type worship.

Many members of our churches look upon Celebration worship with apprehension, fearing that it is the entering wedge of pentecostalism. Such suspicions are reinforced as members who observe that proponents of Celebration-type service usually exhibit an affinity for the "new theology" of apostate Adventism. Wahroonga church is no exception, for numbers of its discerning members have long been worshipping in the nearby Waitara church, where the chances of listening to an exposition of historic Adventism are deemed to be enhanced.

Not many years ago, people were attracted to the Seventh-day Adventist church by the preaching of the "everlasting gospel" as understood in the context of the three angel's messages of Revelation 14.

They responded to the call to come out of "Babylon" and join with God's remnant church. They made this decision, knowing full well which churches God portrayed as Babylon and which church was composed of God's remnant people.

But, increasingly over recent years, the message entrusted to the remnant church has been muted, or even disowned. Embarrassed ministers, who themselves have either forgotten or not been taught the full significance of Seventh-day Adventist ordination vows, have brought people into the church without an adequate knowledge of our doctrines. In many cases, those who entered into baptism did so with little more conviction than perhaps this was a club worth investigating! Disillusioned, they left just as easily as they had joined. In many cases, these people could be excused for thinking that we were Seventh-day Anglicans or Seventh-day Lutherans. The late General Conference president, Pastor Pierson, had warned of this very situation developing.

With the inevitable stagnation in church growth in the two homeland unions, and a noticeable drop in relative income, the administration sought to plug the leak by making the "clubs" more attractive. The image of a "caring church" was actively cultivated and vigorously promoted. Now, the time and efforts of a significant part of the ministry who had been ordained, or set aside, to preach the everlasting gospel, were diverted to organising their members into activities long associated with the Salvation Army. By these means people would be "loved" into their "caring church".

But, in their increasingly unwillingness to be guided by their heaven-sent messenger, (one of the identifying marks of the remnant church), they had sought their own solution and completely disregarded God's specific instruction on this very subject:-

"As a people we are not to imitate and fall in with Salvation Army methods. This is not the work which God has given us to do... Let them do that class of work by their own methods and in their own way. But the Lord has plainly pointed out the work that Seventh-day Adventists are to do. Camp meetings and tent meetings are to be held. The truth for this time is to be proclaimed." (E.G.White, Testimonies Vol.8, pp. 184, 185).

How many of our members can remember the last time they attended a camp meeting that devoted its evening meetings to evangelical outreach as we once used to do? How many have heard the "truth for this time" preached recently from our own pulpits - let alone in evangelistic meetings? It seems that many of our ministers prefer positions and activities that relieve them from preaching the "embarrassing" message entrusted to Seventh-day Adventists!

But the hoped-for image of a caring church has signally failed to increase church growth - a goal which is now visibly perceived to have transcended the divine commission to proclaim "the truth for this time". This failure to restore church growth was recently admitted by the Ministries leader of the North New South Wales Conference, Pastor L. Robinson, when he addressed a small gathering in the Avondale Memorial Church (20 April, 1991). He urged those present to be receptive to coming changes in worship style which are designed to provide increased audience participation and personal interest.

One such plan revolves around the formation of cell groups (Pentecostal terminology). Somehow, by such private gatherings the Holy Spirit is more likely to take hold of our people! No effort was made to address the basic cause of our problem - the wilful turning away from the special message entrusted to the remnant church.

In sheer desperation, like the drowning man and the proverbial straw, the apostles of apostate Adventisim have grasped the charismatic approach to increasing church growth. With envy they observe huge crowds attending the mushrooming neo-Pentecostal and Pentecostal churches. Their emphasis on love and their almost total lack of doctrinal teaching has obviously satisfied some people's longing for social fulfillment through interaction, while seeming to provide a bargain in salvation through cheap grace. As for the afore-mentioned churches - they have achieved their numbers goal, with attendant financial rewards. Some give the distinct impression that they would do well to heed Peter's admonition about assembling the flock for the sake of "filthy lucre" (1 Peter 5:2).

Historically, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has been very much aware of the delusions of Pentecostalism with its spurious manifestations of the "Spirit". Therefore it would be suicidal to the success of apostate plans to openly introduce this type of worship. It must be introduced covertly under the name and guise of "Celebration". One of the ways of ensuring the introduction of new forms of worship is the formation of cell groups. By the formation of these small groups, the church pastor can easily target those who exhibit sympathy for his schemes of operation and get them on side, thus ensuring a core of support on committee and business meetings. The term for this type of behaviour is "politicking". The church manual condemns it, as should all who expect business deliberations to be led by the Spirit: "Everything of a political nature should be avoided". (church manual p. 126).

Another aspect of cell groups is their ability to provide safe havens for those who wish to develop their "spiritual gifts". This is where the manifestation of such gifts as glossolalia (speaking in tongues) have and are taking place within Adventism - safely screened from the prying eyes of the main congregation.

The term "celebration" in relation to a form of Christian worship is by no means novel. Ever since the emergence of the spirit of popery in Christendom, Sunday has been promoted as a day of celebration and feasting, while various religious laws proclaimed Saturday as a tedious day of fasting.

The late Dr. B.G. Wilkinson, veteran scholar and administrator of the Seventh-day Adventist church, commented:

" The effort of the Papacy to disgrace the Sabbath by turning it into a fast day is attested by many authors... Bishop Victorinus, about 290 A.D., betrays the real motive of the Papacy in the introduction of Sabbath fasting as follows: 'Let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any sabbath with the Jews' " ("Truth Triumphant" p.326).

The concept of Sunday celebration took a firm hold even on those who still reverenced the Sabbath. Skene in his book "Celtic Scotland" makes this observation pertaining to the 12th century Ireland:

" They held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours, and on Sunday on the Lord's day they celebrate the resurrection". ("Celtic Scotland" Vol.2, p. 349).

The psychology employed by Rome in associating a reverential day of rest with fasting, as compared with an exciting celebration day with feasting, has paid off. Christendom eventually opted for the pagan day of celebration. This same psychology is now being applied within our church by some pastors and administrators. As our young people, and some older ones who should know better, are are exposed to the carnival-like atmosphere with its charismatically-induced excitement, they will inevitably come to regard a reverential way of worship as flat and boring. It then only needs "more funerals" for Celebration-type meetings to become the accepted norm for the Seventh-Day Adventist mode of worship.

If and when this time arrives, Rome can expect our church to have travelled sufficiently down her pathway of ecumenism to celebrate with her, by accepting her liturgical reform which is centred around her main celebration - the resurrection of Christ and which takes place on Sunday, the first day of the week.

The achievement of such an ambitious scheme requires time and patience - a technique Rome has successfully used, as history records all too well. The historic Council of Vatican II, which launched Pope John's ecumenical drive to woo the separated brethren, sets out the steps needed to gather "God's scattered children" into "one fold" with "one shepherd". Most of these steps come under the heading of liturgical reform, "For it is the liturgy through which, especially in the divine service of the Eucharist, the work of our redemption is accomplished".

Rome is successfully using her daughters in apostate Protestantism to achieve this objective. In a manual for the formation of a successful church based on cell groups, titled "20/20 Vision", Dale Galloway gives the show away and reveals the ultimate goal of "Celebration":

If he is referring to the primitive Christians who worshipped in secret for fear of persecution, this is nonsense. History testifies that these people were Sabbath keepers. It was not until the fourth century that Constantine passed his Sunday decree, purely to honour a pagan festival. It then took further centuries for the papacy to associate Sunday observance with the resurrection of Christ, thus making it a day of Christian Celebration. (Facts of Faith, p.108).

The pertinent fact is that Galloway's manual has been closely followed by Pastor Garrie Williams, Seventh-day Adventist pastor in the Oregon Conference, U.S.A. In his manual, "From Cell to Celebration", Williams strongly recommends "20/20 Vision". So we see friends, that Seventh-day Adventists who are hooked on "Celebration" are playing with papal dynamite.

One word which stands out in the Vatican II procedures on Liturgy is the recurring term "Celebration". There we read of Word Celebrations, Mass Celebrations, Sung Celebrations, Eucharistic Celebrations, Mary Celebrations, Funeral Celebrations, Marriage Celebrations, Communion Celebrations etc., and of course, Rome's main Celebration - the resurrection of Christ on the Day of the Sun.

Let us ponder for a while the implications behind the fairly recent imposition of the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal on our congregations. Some curia-like body in the General Conference obviously decided it was time to tune into Roman Catholic terminology and liturgical practices. Hymn 400 identifies us as a "loving community" which partakes of Christ's "communion bread", and in Hymn 402 the popish dogma of transubstantiation is upheld when we are expected to sing:

According to the Vatican II Documents, the congregation should not only participate internally, but should give evidence of such participation by external gestures and body movements and by responses such as singing and acclamation (p.84).

Many Seventh-day Adventists will recognize some of the above practices now within our own churches.

"His broken body in our stead

Is here in this memorial bread"

Any suggestion of an oversight on the part of those compiling our hymn book must surely be dispelled in the following hymn, No. 403:

"Let us break bread together on our knees,

Let us drink wine together on our knees.

When I fall on my knees, With my face to the rising sun,

0 Lord have mercy on me".

With such an accurate description of the Roman Catholic way of receiving the "sacraments" and a similarity of worship to that described in Ezekiel 8:16, surely we should all pray, "0 Lord have mercy on our 'wretched, poor, miserable, blind and naked' church" (Rev. 3:17).

There are other unfortunate choices of pro-Roman hymns, but let us move on to the liturgical section of Scripture Readings.

As these abound in readings taken from Roman Catholic corruptions of Scripture, we find that the Protestant Authorized Bible rates a poor seventh place in frequency of use. This is Rome's way of celebrating the Word, and increasingly pastors are taking advantage of these readings to wean church members away from the Bible from which our pioneers discovered our message. So Adventists are now asked to read, "Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (No. 756). This ridiculous rendition in the N.I.V. is meant to re-enforce the Roman Catholic dogma of Original Sin.

When the author twice wrote to the owners of the N. I. V., The New York Bible Society, in an effort to find out how the translators arrived at such a preposterous rendition of Psalm 51:5, no explanation was given. The reason soon became obvious, for shortly after appeared another edition in which the notion of a sinful foetus is now deleted!

The proponents of apostate Adventism know full well that "original sin" is a denial of God's definition of sin: "Sin is the transgression of the Law" 1 John 3:4. They wish us to think that it is separation from God that makes us sinners. Therefore, we cannot help sinning! But the reverse is the case - it is our wilful sinning that separates us from God (Isa. 59:2).

The N.I.V. is regarded by Rome as an ecumenical Bible. Many Roman Catholic bookshops sell it. Why? Let Monsignor Alberto Ablondi, who in 1985 was an executive member of the Regional Executive of the United Bible Society, enlighten us. Speaking of such ecumenical projects as the N.I.V., he sees them as "one of the most important advancements of post-Vatican II ecumenism - an important step towards unity" (Ward - Event No. 57, p.6)

We could mention the increased emphasis on music, especially of popular songs and raucous music, beating of drums often accompanied by clapping, rowdy applause and rhythmic swaying of the arms and body. This type of music is euphemistically referred to as "contemporary music"! This is all part of the Celebration style of worship, that seems to have out-celebrated the way in which music is used in Roman Catholic churches.

But one other seemingly innocuous innovation which has come into our worship in recent years is worth mentioning. It is the practice of some pastors and others to bid their congregation "Good Morning" and virtually demand a response from the congregation. Some go further, by asking worshippers to turn around and give a welcoming handshake and audible greetings to those seated nearby.

The author first came upon this phenomenon some fifteen years ago. But it was not in an Adventist church. It was in a Roman Catholic cathedral, high up in the Peruvian Andes in the ancient city of Cuzco where a small congregation had gathered to celebrate Mass. Years later the author was surprised to see this form of greeting repeated in the Avondale Memorial Church. It was not until recently that the author found out the real reason for this show of momentary jollity and friendship, and it is given on p.165 of the Vatican II report:

"Because the celebration of Mass is of its nature a community activity, the dialogues between celebrant and people, as also the acclamations, are of considerable importance. They are not only external signs of celebration in common, but also engender and foster union between celebrant and people".

How discerning was our prophet when she said: "It is a backsliding church that lessens the distance between itself and the Papacy"! (Signs of the Times, Feb. 19, 1894).

How disgusting that the Seventh-day Adventist church, with its unique insight into the great contro- versy between Christ and Satan, should slavishly follow the techniques as set out by the Antichrist!

Of course our leaders who have pinned their hopes for increased church growth on this Celebration-type worship, are very careful to calm the fears of those who see danger signals, and some presidents show decided hostility to those who sound the alarm.

One such person is Pastor Rex Moe, president of the North New South Wales Conference. Until recently, it was generally thought that he was not in sympathy with charismatic-type worship, an explanation perhaps for the relative lack of such churches in his conference as compared, say, with the Greater Sydney Conference where a charismatic gathering in a rented Roman Catholic hall at Cherrybrook is allowed to meet each Sabbath morning.

Perhaps because of his perceived lack of outward enthusiasm for this new form of worship, he and numerous other workers were delegated to attend "The First International Conference on Worship", held in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. during May 1991. Note that for the first time in the history of our church it suddenly becomes advisable to spend a small fortune of the sacred tithe having people trot around the world to discover how to worship! And carefully note that these meetings were hosted by a Conference in which charismatic churches openly flourish!

In his report in "Conference News" June, 1991, Pastor Moe tells us that this conference "was not convened to teach people how to start Celebration Churches. It was convened with the purpose in mind of making worship a meaningful experience". So Pastor Moe has apparently come to realize that our church sermons are no longer meaningful! He should know, for over his several years of presiding over various conferences he has witnessed a gradual falling away among our ministers of a desire to preach anything really meaningful to a denomination committed to preaching the Three Angels' Messages. But he makes no acknowledgement of this sad fact. He also attacks what he calls "the unscrupulous activities of one man in particular and his widespread distribution of videos on the theme..." What theme? The Celebration theme! He then derogates such activities with a claim that these anti-celebration activities leave "much to be desired by way of accuracy and honesty". But he offers no proof!

So if the Worship Conferences had nothing to do with "Celebration" why is Pastor Moe so concerned that some are exposing this phoney form of worship? The answer, of course, is that these "meaningful" forms of worship have plenty to do with celebration and charismatic types of worship. Therefore the term "Celebration" must be dropped! Substitute terminology like "meaningful worship" and "participation worship".

Such a strategy, designed to distance this new form of worship from the now discredited celebration movement of Rome, seems to be "official". In the South Pacific Division's "Record" June 15,1991, Editor Coffin goes to great pains to have us "forget Celebration". He tells us not to attach "labels"! In other words, having been caught out with this deception, let us move on to another, more subtle form of decept- ion, using different terminology to accomplish our purposes.

But, while Pastor Moe goes to some pains to emphasise what the Worship Conference was not about, he was very guarded as to exactly what it was about. Not so was Pastor R Muhlberg of North New Zealand. He was so enthusiastic over what he and his president, Lionel Smith heard and saw, that he just had to share his excitement with the public. According to the New Zealand Herald, May 27, 1991, "Seventh-day Adventists could be involved in more dynamic forms of worship in the future"; "staid and traditional services" could be transformed into "exciting events", and "congregation worship should be about everyone taking part with God as the audience".

In relation to the "particularly exciting services" of black congregations who used "contemporary rock music instead of traditional hymn singing" Muhlberg revealed his attitude, "The whole idea is to sharpen the focus of what worship really is".

Pastor Moe closes his report with very reassuring words: "The Church, albeit, and in spite of fact and fiction is still on course". But, on which course? Let's take a look at the course which our church has followed during Moe's terms of executive office.

* In 1976 the "church in Australia exonerated Dr Desmond Ford of heresy on the grounds that his views on the age of the earth, the Sanctuary Message, and Salvation and Righteousness by Faith, were backed up by contemporary Seventh-day Adventist authors and scholars. But as we all know, when Ford was eventually examined by a General Conference appointed committee, he was fired. His views which were previously endorsed by Pastor Moe and his Australian colleagues, were later proved incompatible with Seventh-day Adventist beliefs!

* After Ford was fired his colleagues at Avondale College, who shared similar views, were allowed to remain and to continue teaching them to ministerial trainees.

* During the eighties, soon after Pastor Moe became president of the North New South Wales Conference, a series of articles by Pastor R Goldstone purporting to explain our Fundamental Beliefs were circulated by his Conference among the ministry. They cast doubts on the historical Adventist view of the age of the earth and, by implication, on the Spirit of Prophecy.

* During a special business meeting of the Avondale Memorial Church on September 27, 1987, Pastor Moe upheld Desmond Ford's book "Daniel" as being good Adventism when in fact it is so in tune with Plymouth Brethrenism's futuristic teaching that one of its proponents, F.F. Bruce, was happy to recommend it with a "Foreword". He said that Ford's understanding of the Gospel "is the gospel which I acknowledge: may it continue to speed on and triumph". Futurism lets Roman Catholicism off the beastly hook of Revelation 13!

* After an Adventist lay group mass-distributed a paper early in 1991 called "The Protestant", in which parts of "Great Controversy" relating to the second and third angels' messages were reproduced, there soon appeared in North New South Wales newspapers, display advertisements dissociating the Seventh-day Adventist church from such activities. No invitation was given to those with enquiring minds to contact the Conference Office, thus failing to capitalize on a golden opportunity to spread our message.

* In May 25, 1991 edition of "Record" there appeared a feature article denigrating one of the important tenets of our faith - the expected soon return of Christ. Repeatedly it used the term "Second Comingism" as though it was an infectious disease and claimed that Christ has already returned when He enters the hearts of believers. Although the article carried an Editorial note advising readers that this was a private opinion, yet the Editors were obviously confident that they could publish such doubt-fostering material without fear of rebuke from top Administration!

Such examples simply highlight the course on which our Division has now been travelling since its wilful acceptance of "Fordism" in 1976. It is not the reassuring course which the tenor of Pastor Moe's report indicates, nor is it the course on which Seventh-day Adventists are entitled to be led. It is a course which narrows the distance between Babylon and her daughters.

When one contemplates the frantic efforts of certain of our administrators to convince God's people that they should up-date our form of worship, it becomes evident that the push for change is not coming from the grass roots of the church, but rather it is being imposed from the top. (Shades of Isa. 9:16!)

The changes which are being implemented as the answer to meaningless sermons and the resultant loss of church growth are perceived as an antidote to a malaise for which recent administrative policy is blameworthy. Roman corruptions of God's Word have been foisted upon us thereby clouding the very source of knowledge of God's will for man. While professing confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy, God's special guide for His end-time church, it is increasingly ignored, disobeyed, misused and abused, and denigrated as irrelevant to our times. Such tactics inevitably stunt our spiritual growth and impinge on our prophetic and doctrinal understandings which are so essential to fulfill the role of the Remnant Church in hastening the return of our Lord and Savior.

What a pity that men who have solemnly accepted the responsibility of leading God's remnant church in its task of calling people to come out of Babylon to truly worship and do the will of our Creator, should in effect be the key players in fulfilling our Prophet's forecast!

"Men will employ every means to make less prominent the difference between Seventh-day Adventists and observers of the first day of the week" (Testimonies Vol. 6, p.144).

PART II .NEURO LINGO.

( Satan's Psycho -Therapy For Believers )

While the charismatic approach diverts our attention and desire to teach our unique doctrines, it also achieves its purpose of attracting to our church those who have no knowledge of, let alone commitment to, the proclamation of the three angels' messages.

Yet there are still many who either believe or will come to discover God's particular message for these times. These people are not likely to be fooled by the mumbo-jumbo of kindergarten-like Celebration. Their beliefs and faith in the messages of the remnant church must be destroyed; otherwise, so long as they remain on the church roll, they will be a constant threat to the false gospel of apostate Adventism.

Changing the thinking of people who are willing to spend time in prayer and study of God's Word, looms as a daunting task. But the apostles of apostasy now feel that they have discovered a solution. They have unashamedly turned to Babylonish instructors to learn the most diabolical methods of changing people's thinking and beliefs - by working on the sub-conscious mind. The modern term for this assault on man's brain is "Neuro Linguistic Programming".

This system relegates the old-fashioned art of "conning" people to kindergarten stuff. Those who peddle this craft unashamedly combine the techniques of modern psychology and hypnotism.

Recently some clerics have lowered their sights from the celestial to the mercenary. They have expensively repackaged Neuro-Linguistics in order to successfully peddle their wares to others of their fraternity. Some of their colleagues see the course as an effective way of communicating and influencing their congregations, while others are distracted from their Gospel mission in order to take higher levels of study which, in turn, qualifies them to become "Trainers" in a lucrative programme.

One of the religious institutions in Australasia that have risen to this bait is the Seventh-day Adventist church. It has swallowed it, hook, line and sinker!

Both the Trans-Australia and Trans-Pacific Unions have sponsored training courses operated by a U.S. organization known as LEAD. Its president, John Savage, is a United Methodist minister of the Western New York Conference, who describes himself as a psycho-therapist certified by Colgate Rochester Divinity school. He came to Australia in 1990 and during the month of September conducted courses arranged by Pastor Eric Winter in Perth and Melbourne, and in Sydney by Pastor A. Salom. Both these men have been set apart by our church to preach the everlasting gospel of Revelation 14.

LEAD coursesare arranged in four stages known as Lab 1, Lab 2, Lab 3 and Lab 4. Those who complete Lab 2 become qualified to teach Lab 1 and so on. As both Pastors Winter and Salom are presently engaged in conducting Lab 1 courses in various of our churches it follows that both these ordained ministers have spent time (and money) studying at least to the level of Lab 2. Part of the Lab 2 course is based on a book titled "Re Framing" by Bandler and Grinder (1982) who instruct their readers in the subtle techniques of the "Transformation of Meaning". On page 177 we read, "Framing is another word for concentralization, and reframing is reconcentralization. Sometimes you do that by changing the actual external context. More often you change the internal context the way a person internally frames and understands events so as to get a different response".

Now it is a well known fact that the so-called "New theologians" of apostate Adventism find our Sanctuary message objectionable and our belief in an Investigative Judgment embarrassing. As an outright rejection of our traditional beliefs would immediately expose a church pastor as apostate, and reveal the intent and purpose of his teaching, it is advisable to work on redirecting people's thinking, instead of opposing it outright. This is where Neuro-Linguistics comes in: "When someone has a strong belief system, I accept it, and then find ways to work within it. Then I can always induce a covert trance and just program directly" ("Re Framing" p.186).

Now, don't you think it would be fair to say that Seventh-day Adventists have "strong belief systems", some of which, like the heavenly sanctuary service, with its investigative judgment, and the gift of pro- phecy, are unique in Christendom? Destroy these beliefs and Seventh-day Adventism effectively loses its purpose for existence.

So, it can readily be seen that those of our ministry who are dedicated to promoting apostate Adventism would find the philosophy and methods described in this book almost irresistible. They are virtually tailor-made for their situation!

But some of our good readers will find such a thought repulsive. How could a Seventh-day Adventist pastor resort to such cunning devices to deceive the flock? Don't be too sure friends, for we have been warned: "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" Eph. 4: 14.

Notice that Paul is reminding the Ephesians that they had already been deceived, and that they should no longer act like children believing everything that crafty men were putting over. How much more then should we, in these closing days of earth's history, be on the alert for those who employ cunning, covert, hypnotic trances to deceive if possible, the "very elect"?

Jesus was well aware that false doctrine is usually injected into the minds of believers in a way which is not readily discernible. He warned His disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matt. 16:6). At first the disciples were perplexed. They did not comprehend that Jesus was warning them of the leaven of false doctrine that ferments from within the established church.

So it is today. As Seventh-day Adventists, we go to hear a Seventh-day Adventist minister preach in a Seventh-day Adventist church, and we are quite entitled to expect to receive "bread" that upholds the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ and His remnant church. But we are exhorted to beware of that unseen, or undetected leaven that lurks within to destroy the wholesome doctrine. Let us heed this pertinent warning and as a practical example take brief notice of a recent pastoral discourse given in the Avondale Memorial church. See if we can detect the leaven of heresy and of covert methods similar to those outlined in the book "Re Framing" where the technique of changing people's minds is accomplished through appearing to be in agreement with them.

During March 1990 Pastor Ross Goldstone took it upon himself to explain to his parishioners the meaning of Fundamental Belief, No. 23. This deals with the Sanctuary and the Investigative Judgment.

Goldstone commences his lecture by assuring his audience that he believes in a real sanctuary in heaven - "just as it says in Fundamental No. 23" and he also believes in a judgment. So it is established in the minds of fundamental Adventists that he is one with them in belief. Their minds are lulled into a comfortable sense of confidence.

But then he commences the process of altering the framework. He says, "To say that something is real, does not mean to say that it is tangible". By way of illustration, he cites a mother's love for her child. "Is it real"? Yes, of course it is. "Is it something you can grasp or touch"? No! "So it could be with the heavenly sanctuary". So the leaven or thought has been placed in our mind that if the sanctuary is intangible, then it is not real in the sense that it has a dimension in which Christ moves from the Holy Place or apartment into the Most Holy place. There is still a sanctuary, but the physical appearance as in the concept given to Moses by God has been changed into something amorphous and visionary. You see the frame in which we regarded the sanctuary has been reframed. Do you see the similarity to the methods taught by LEAD?

Now, while still "believing" in a sanctuary, our unique teaching of the Investigative Judgment, which now has no tangible courthouse, is the next doctrine to be reframed.

Once again, Goldstone reassures his audience that he is with them in belief. His study of the whole Bible leads him to believe in a judgment. He is with us. But before he has finished the discourse, he administers another helping of leaven. He says: "The primary purpose of the judgment is to vindicate God's name before His intelligent creatures. God is on trial more than man". See how our historic concept of the judgment has been reframed. It is God now, who is to be judged! Therefore the urgent judgment message of the first angel of Revelation 14 has been downgraded, if not nullified. Our historic interpretation of Dan. 8:14 which is basic to Adventism's belief on the atonement is now destroyed by this leaven, for there can be no analogy between the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary and the heavenly, if it is God's character which is being examined. There is simply nothing to be cleansed! And yet Goldstone has never denied that there is a sanctuary or a judgement! As outlined in "Re Framing" has he not worked within a "system of belief", yet effectively changed its meaning?

No wonder the servant of the Lord has warned: "Unless the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself" (Testimonies Vol.8 p.250).

By the time this pamphlet is printed, many readers will have had experience with Lab. programs. Church members are being urged to part with $35.00 for "a practical training programme for Caring Ministries". Can a ministry that has forsaken the instructions given in God's Word and in the Spirit of Prophecy and turned to the sophistries of man in order to control his thinking through subliminal trickery honestly claim to be a "caring church"? If so, caring for whom?

Or can a church expect to impart spiritual blessings and understanding of the Word of God by turning to the "foolishness of men" who use methods of modern psychology in order to influence people while under the spell of hypnotic-like trances? Paul says "No". Spiritual things are spiritually discerned! "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God... because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:12-14) .

Common sense alone should make it obvious that Truth does not need, nor will it ever resort to deception in order to get its message across. The speed with which this worldly training is being thrust on trusting church members is truly amazing. One cannot help but wonder how much nearer to completion our task of taking the everlasting gospel to the world would be if similar money, time, energy and zeal were used for the legitimate mission of our church!

Paul gave explicit and brief instruction to Titus which surely is pertinent today: "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition REJECT". (Titus 3:10.).

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