The Truth About Dr. Walter Martin and The Seventh-Day Adventist Church by Justyn

A number of sincere Christians are at a lost whether to label the Seventh-day Adventist church[1] as evangelical or cult. If they are blood-washed Christians then we must extend our hand of fellowship with them. If not, then the Christian church is mandated to expose every false doctrines that come against the knowledge of truth. Some sincere Christians and even SDA people are also quoting Dr. Walter R. Martin’s book, The Kingdom of the Cults, to justify that the SDA church is not to be labeled as cult. However, a person can start by reading Dr. Martin's book, The Rise of the Cults, because at start he exposes White’s movement as a cult. But when T.E. Unruh, who was an Adventist official that time, read his book, he contacted the author in Reading, Pennsylvania. He allowed him to conduct a comprehensive and actual research on the SDA church, with the permission of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, editor of Eternity magazine, in the middle of 1950’s. Because of this research, the General Conference with the help of four former SDA church officials[2] printed Dr. Martin's book Questions on Doctrine. However, according to a rare interview done by Douglas Hackleman of Currents[3] during 1983 with Dr. Martin, the latter stated, “After 150,000 copies, Questions on Doctrine was permitted to go out of print.... I believe it was deliberately removed by people who felt that it was a thorn in their theological flesh.” Martin also added, “You have to understand that 30 years ago there was a great confusion. As a matter of fact, today is still in many areas of Adventism. They had strains of Arian Christology; there were men in positions of authority who denied the deity of Christ and the Trinity. For all I know, some of them may still be there today. There were people who were absolute legalists, who believed that any person who kept Sunday - even in good conscience before God - right at that moment had the mark of the beast. And they were printing and distributing it under the official Adventist logos.”

Every discerning Christian must understand that Dr. Martin has a condition for the SDA Church in order not to be labeled a cult. Moreover, this is what he said, the “‘Kingdom of the Cults’ is in print as a standard textbook and is used all over the world. It is now on its 37th printing, coming up for revision and expansion; and in there is a chapter on Adventism, which I put in deliberately. The book will be a classic for years. The chapters has got to be in there spelling out that Adventists are not a cult, because they are already classified that way. What better place to deal with it than in a classic book? Anthony Hoekema [sic], came after me with a hammer and tongs; he is a friend of mine. And M.R. De Haan came after me, among other people because of the position I took. I haven't recanted my position, but if the Seventh-day Adventist denomination will not back up its answers with actions and put Questions on Doctrine back in print - and, in effect, take a strong stand against people in [the SDA] denomination who are very vocal and powerful group and who very well can bring the judgment of God on up - then they're in real trouble that I can't help them out of; and nobody else can either.” Now the question must be answered with all honesty, has the book Questions on Doctrine been made available for the SDA’s of today’s generation? And we must realize that the book Kingdom of the Cults, first printed 1965 and then 1977, are possibly those years where Questions on Doctrine were  still in circulation. When the book was revised and expanded in 1985 (interview was done in 1983), the Questions on Doctrine were already out of print and Dr. Martin was probably hoping until his death in 1989 that his books Questions on Doctrine and The Truth About Seventh-day Adventism will be back in circulation but unfortunately it did not.

I agree with both Josh McDowell and Don Stewart in their book, The Deceivers, regarding their comment on the SDA Church,

“It is true that they hold to a sound doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the Person and deity of the Holy Spirit. Where they depart from the Scriptures is on a variation of grace. That is, they are saved by grace through faith, but kept in grace by their works. We find this untenable as well as other variant doctrines, such as: Jesus possessing a ‘sinful nature,’ Satan as the ‘scapegoat’ for our sins, Jesus having the preincarnate name of Michael (but not a created being), an investigative judgment’ of each person’s life on earth, conditional immortality of the soul, unconscious state of the soul (soul-sleep) until the Second Advent, keeping a strict dietary and Sabbath law as a condition for salvation, worship on Sunday as the ‘mark of the beast,’ and annihilation of the unjust instead of eternal punishment in hell.

“Any born-again student of the Bible will see from the above list that there are too many false doctrines mingled with the doctrines of the Trinity and grace to recommend the Seventh-day Adventists as an evangelical church….”[4]   

I also remember the time when I was talking to a middle-age SDA pastor inside Manila Sanitarium about his stand on salvation. This is how a number of SDA people like him will argue in circle to defend their founder’s teachings.

Justyn: Pastor, do you believe that a person will go to heaven because of his faith in Jesus alone?

SDA Pastor: Yes!

Justyn: What if a Christian who has faith in Jesus alone was eating pork and he died, will he be save?

SDA Pastor: If he is a true Christian then he will not eat pork.

Justyn: But what if he is eating pork and he died, will he be save?

SDA Pastor: If he is a true Christian then he will not eat pork.

I also ask him about Ellen G. White’s writings:

Justyn: Pastor, is the writings of Mrs. White at par or equal with the Scripture?

SDA Pastor: No, it is not.

Justyn: Then would you consider that Mrs. White’s writings contain errors?

SDA Pastor: No, because she was guided by the Holy Spirit.

Below are some of Ellen G. White’s unscriptural writings and teachings[5]:

1. Mrs. White’s Writings are Unquestionable (Authority). Mrs. White believed that her writings or testimonies, were inspired and therefore should never be questioned. To doubt her writings would be tantamount to doubting the Word of God.
   
   

   “While men venture to criticize the Word of God, they venture on sacred, holy ground, and had better fear and tremble and hide their wisdom as foolishness. God sets no man to pronounce judgment on His word, selecting some things as inspired and discrediting others as uninspired. The testimonies [Mrs. White's writings] have been treated in the same way; but God is not in this” Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 23. “When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No after suppositions contrary to the light God has given are to be entertained.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 31.

2. An Inspired Commentary (Extrabiblical). For years Seventh-day Adventists have called Mrs. White’s writings “an inspired commentary on the Bible”. In 1980 the church also published The Pillars, a book defending the denomination's distinctive doctrines. In this book, popular Adventist pastor Morris L. Venden invites his readers to study fifteen “facts” with him. “Fact #14” is especially interesting:
   
   

   “Fact #14. There is hope for every remnant believer today who sometimes feels confused at all the differing views taken by different scholars and commentaries. We have an inspired commentary that was given for the purpose of settling the disagreements among the uninspired commentaries. What do you do when the scholars disagree? Do you have to become a better scholar than the best in order to settle the disagreement in your own mind? No, let me repeat. God has given to our church an inspired commentary to settle the disagreements among the uninspired commentaries. And we can still be thankful for that today” The Pillars, p. 30

3. England will Attack the United States (False Prophecy). In 1862 she predicted that,
   
   

   “when England does declare war [against the North, during the Civil War], all nations will have an interest of their own to serve, and there will be general war, general confusion.” The result will be that “this nation [the United States] will...be humbled into the dust.” Testimonies for The Church, vol. 1, p. 259.

   American history clearly shows that England did not “declare war” against the United States during the Civil War, and the United States was not “humbled into the dust.”
   
4. In the Last Days People Must Leave Non-Adventist Churches in Order to be Saved (Exclusivity)[6]
   
   

   “I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches, and before the plagues shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth....But the Light will shine, and all who are honest will leave the fallen churches, and take their stand with the remnant.” Early Writings, p.261

   The Bible Says,
   
   

   “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand” Romans 14:4 “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissentions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” Romans 16:17, 18.

5. A Christian’s Salvation Will Be Determined by a Judgment of Works (Salvation by Works)
   
   

   “At the time appointed for the judgment... All who have ever taken upon themselves the name of Christ must pass its searching scrutiny. Both the living and the dead are to be judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” The Great Controversy, p. 486

   “In order to let Jesus into our hearts, we must stop sinning.” Signs of the Times, Mar 3, 1898

It is true that there may be a number of people inside the Seventh-day Adventist church that are genuine believers. However, our position in categorizing the movement under the cult of Christianity is not based on what the individual SDA person believes but what the leaders of the present-day SDA movement are upholding, i.e., the writings and teachings of Ellen G. White.[7] Unless they have release an official statement rejecting and renouncing a great number of unscriptural writings and teachings of Mrs. White then we will continue to expose the whole movement as a spiritually dangerous cult.

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Notes:

[1] SDA after this.

[2] The SDA official compose of: L.E. Froom, an SDA church historian, W.E. Read, General Conference field-secretary, and Roy Allan Anderson, Ministerial Association secretary and MINISTRY magazine editor.

[3] Interview of Dr. Walter Martin from Adventist Currents, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1983 conducted by Douglas Hackleman

[4] McDowell, Josh and Stewart, Don, “The Deceivers,” (San Bernardino: Here’s Life Publishers, 1992), 298.

[5] Martin, J. Mark, “Seventh-Day Adventism and the Writings of Ellen G. White: An Examination of Many of the Strange Teachings and Views of E. G. White,” as quoted by the MacGregor Ministries. (emphasis’ mine}

[6] In their booklet, “Bible Study Made Easy,” compiled by Emmanuel P. Mullaneda and printed by Philippine Publishing House, Manila, Philippines © 1986, it notes, “In order to be the true church which keeps all the commandments of God, the true church must keep God’s Sabbath day” p. 141. (emphasis’ mine)  

[7] The same logic and principle is also applied with the other cults of Christianity.