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S U M M E R • 2 0 1 4
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 2

 

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D E P A R T M E N T S

Ask the PASTOR

THE BIG DEAL ABOUT ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES 

Why make such a big deal out of Antiochus Epiphanes and Daniel 8:14?

If you are a regular reader of Proclamation! you should know that we seldom mention Adventists by name. We are not hurt or angry—far from it! In fact Carolyn and I have often said that we appreciate much of our Adventist upbringing. The sense of community, the emphasis on health, education, and the moral codes our families instilled in our lives will always be cherished. Most of us had no idea of the depths of error in Adventist theology—especially the gospel—until many months or years after we left. Now we wonder how we were so blind to statements which should have been blinking red lights warning us of error.

True, we at Life Assurance Ministries do point out the errors of Adventist teachings, especially those which undermine the simple gospel. If we are to be true to God’s word, then we must contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. We are to test the spirits and hold fast what is true. Following are a few of the statements that should cause our Adventist readers to see the gross error of Ellen White’s writings. Note what she said regarding the people and churches who rightly rejected Miller’s date setting. My comments are in brackets.

The most devoted gladly received the message [Miller’s prediction that Christ would come in 1843, which was false]. They knew it was from God, and that it was delivered at the right time. Angels were watching with the deepest interest the result of the heavenly message, and when the churches turned from and rejected it, [as they should have] they in sadness consulted with Jesus. He turned his face from the churches….1

I was shown in vision, and I still believe, that there was a shut door [of mercy] in 1844. All who saw the light of the first and second angels’ messages and rejected that light [which proved to be error], were left in darkness. And those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them.2

In other words, Ellen White clearly said that those who rejected the false message of date setting for the coming of Christ in 1843 were lost. She went on to say that those who once believed in the message of 1843/44 and then saw its errors and rejected it as they should have thereby rejected the Spirit of God and it no longer pleaded with them.

Measured by the word of God, the above statements of Ellen White are gross error. Her vision must have come from another spirit.

But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone (Mk. 13:32).

For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will (Mt. 24:44). †

 

Endnotes

1. John Calvin, Commentary on Daniel, p. 95-110.2
2. P. 95-101.
3. P. 295-306.
4. Daniel 8:14, The Day of Atonement and the Investigative Judgment, p. A-76.
5. P. 1080.
6. Josephus, Antiquities, Book X, Chapter XI, Section 7.

 

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DALE RATZLAFF
Founder of Proclamation! and
Life Assurance Ministries