Like
the Frogs of Egypt —
Liberal Adventist Books and Magazines
Liberal
books and magazines, which make light of historic Adventist standards and
teach deviant doctrines, are appearing in increasing numbers in our ABCs
and college and university bookstores. They are also being put into our
college and university libraries.
What
can our people do? They can protest to leadership and urge fellow
believers to unite with them in asking that such materials be removed from
our stores and no longer printed by our publishing houses.
When I visited the Andrews University
Bookstore in 1981, I found Robert Brinsmead’s later books, containing
his teachings against 1844 and the Sabbath, on sale. Desmond Ford’s
books were also proudly displayed, even though he had been discharged from
the Adventist ministry the previous year at Glacier View. When I asked the
clerk about this, I was told the university likes to have “controversial
books,” for it stimulates the thinking of the students!
In
1989, I entered the Columbia Union College Bookstore and found a number of
worldly novels for sale.
None of
this would have been found in our schools in the 1950s. We had godly
administrators and Bible teachers back then. It was the decision in the
1960s to only hire Bible teachers with earned doctorates, which was partly
responsible for this downward trend. Prior to that time, only mature
pastors and evangelists were employed as Bible teachers. Since then, our
colleges only hire men who have undergone doctrinal brainwashing in
Protestant, Catholic, and atheist universities.
I am
not exaggerating. Doctoral work is a mind-retraining program. You are
either totally indoctrinated into their beliefs or you do not receive the
coveted Ph.D.
Back in
the late 1980s, a friend found an anti-Jesuit book in Southern Adventist
University library. When he started to copy it, the head librarian hurried
over and told him the machine was “out of order,” and he would have to
return later. Yet it was working fine when he started.
When he
returned that afternoon, the head librarian was absent, and he started
copying the book again. Immediately, the head librarian appeared, waved
him off, and said the machine was not working.
The
next time he came back, the book was gone. He returned several times to
the library, always without success. Over a period of several weeks, he
encountered similar incidents with other books.
Another problem are the journals.
Errant doctrinal magazines, which have no place in Adventist libraries,
are regularly placed on display in our college and university libraries
for the students to read.
This
includes such publications as Spectrum and Adventist Today.
When conscientious believers protest, they are told that such magazines
are needed to broaden the understanding of the students.
Southern
Adventist University, as well as most of our other “higher education”
institutions in North America, does not consider it their responsibility
to provide their students with historic Adventism in the classrooms,
bookstores, libraries, and evening entertainments.
Yet the
irony is that the McKee family, which donated all of the money to build
the large Southern College Library, must look with shame when they now
enter that library and see what the youth of our Church are presented with
for reading materials.
In the
early 1990s, Southern College closed down the Ellen G. White Heritage Room
in the large library. When concerned students and parents inquired as to
the reason, they were told the library needed the space for something
else. As I recall, it was an audio-visual center or something similar.
Spectrum
magazine began in
the late 1960s as a journal for highly educated Adventists. Obviously,
there was something of a snob factor involved here, and many Adventists
entered subscriptions. It was considered something of a mark of
distinction to have Spectrum displayed on the coffee tables of
well-to-do church members.
But, by
the mid-1970s, Spectrum was changing from a journal for
sophisticates to an attack journal on the Spirit of Prophecy. Gradually,
the field of interest broadened, as, first, Adventist Currents and Adventist
Today began publication until, in one or the other of the journals,
you could find articles subtly favoring women’s liberation; women’s
ordination; homosexuality; pro-Catholic and Protestant ecumenism; and
articles against the historic standards, beliefs, and prophetic
interpretations of our people.
In the
early 1990s, Charles Wheeling published an approximate 16-page, 8½ x 11
publication, in which he presented reasons to his local Adventist church
why his views were not heretical. When I read through Wheeling’s reasons
for rejecting, or modifying, various teachings of Ellen White, I found he
heavily quoted Spectrum in defense of his positions. It was the
place to find that kind of material. Yet, for years, our colleges and
universities have subscribed to it so your young people can read it.
Adventist
Currents eventually
went out of business, but Adventist Today, which replaced it, is a
mirror of the liberalism dominating La Sierra University and Loma Linda
University: poems to our father-mother god, the problems that the book Great
Controversy has caused in our denomination, and repetitious articles
on evolution as the correct view of scientific facts are standard fare.
If you
send your precious youth to one of our colleges or universities, this is
the kind of reading matter they will encounter in the library.
Should
our local churches and conferences support schools which are trying to
send our youth down a side street which leads out into the world? Should
we send our young people there for training? These are serious questions.
Why has
our denomination stopped printing low-cost Spirit of Prophecy books? Do
they not want them to be distributed? With all the money that is coming
into the Church, surely, they can afford to issue quality books, such as Great
Controversy, Desire of Ages, Christ’s Object Lessons, Patriarchs and
Prophets, and Bible Readings at less than a dollar a copy in
boxful amounts. We are doing it here. They could—and should—do it
also. The more of those precious books which are distributed, the better.
Why are
our Adventist Book Centers selling an increasing number of religious books
published by non-Adventist publishing firms? I am sure that those of you
who glanced through the Spring edition of the ABC Book Catalog were
shocked. Not over 10% of it was printed by our own publishing houses. Ask
your ABC for a copy, and page through it. Some of the evangelical authors,
whose Left Behind and similar rapture books are now run-away best
sellers, also had their other books listed for sale in it!
We are
even starting to print fairy-tale-like books for the younger children in
our church. We will not even mention the musical productions for sale.
Where
is all this taking us? When will it all end?
Well,
we have an answer to the second one: It will end at the National Sunday
Law, when church members which these publications have educated in
worldliness—go out and leave us entirely. They may take the organization
with them, but the faithful will remain. By definition, the “remnant”
are those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17).
“We
pride ourselves on the wide distribution of literature; but the
multiplication of books, even books that in themselves are not harmful,
may be a positive evil. With the immense tide of printed matter constantly
pouring from the press, old and young form the habit of reading hastily
and superficially, and the mind loses its power of connected and vigorous
thought. Furthermore, a large share of the periodicals and books that,
like the frogs of Egypt, are overspreading the land, are not merely
commonplace, idle, and enervating, but unclean and degrading. Their effect
is not merely to intoxicate and ruin the mind, but to corrupt and destroy
the soul. The mind, the heart, that is indolent, aimless, falls an easy
prey to evil. It is on diseased, lifeless organisms that fungus roots. It
is the idle mind that is Satan’s workshop. Let the mind be directed to
high and holy ideals, let the life have a noble aim, an absorbing purpose,
and evil finds little foothold.
“Let
the youth, then, be taught to give close study to the Word of God.
Received into the soul, it will prove a mighty barricade against
temptation. ‘Thy Word,’ the psalmist declares, ‘have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against Thee.’ ‘By the word of Thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.’ Psalms 119:11;
17:4.”—Education, 189-190.
“The
influence of most of the periodicals of the day is such as to render the
Word of God distasteful, and to destroy a relish for all useful and
instructive reading. The mind assimilates to that which it feeds upon.”—Counsels
to Writers and Editors, 133-134.
“The
light of truth which God designs shall come to the people of the world at
this time is not that which the world’s men of learning are seeking to
impart, for these men in their research often arrive at erroneous
conclusions and in their study of many authors become enthused with
theories that are of satanic origin. Satan, clothed in the garb of an
angel of light, presents for the study of the human mind subjects which
seem very interesting and which are full of scientific mystery. In the
investigation of these subjects, men are led to accept erroneous
conclusions and to unite with seducing spirits in the work of propounding
new theories which lead away from the truth.
“There
is danger that the false sentiments expressed in the books that they have
been reading will sometimes be interwoven by our ministers, teachers, and
editors with their arguments, discourses, and publications, under the
belief that they are the same in principle as the teachings of the Spirit
of truth. The book, Living Temple, is an illustration of this work,
the writer of which declared in its support that its teachings were the
same as those found in the writings of Mrs. White. Again and again we
shall be called to meet the influence of men who are studying sciences of
satanic origin, through which Satan is working to make a nonentity of God
and of Christ.”—9 Testimonies, 67-68.
“In
the education of children and youth, fairy tales, myths, and fictitious
stories are now given a large place. Books of this character are used in
the schools, and they are to be found in many homes. How can Christian
parents permit their children to use books so filled with falsehood? When
the children ask the meaning of stories so contrary to the teaching of
their parents, the answer is that the stories are not true; but this does
not do away with the evil results of their use. The ideas presented in
these books mislead the children. They impart false views of life and
beget and foster a desire for the unreal.
“The
widespread use of such books at this time is one of the cunning devices of
Satan. He is seeking to divert the minds of old and young from the great
work of character building. He means that our children and youth shall be
swept away by the soul-destroying deceptions with which he is filling the
world. Therefore he seeks to divert their minds from the Word of God and
thus prevent them from obtaining a knowledge of those truths that would be
their safeguard.
“Never
should books containing a perversion of truth be placed in the hands of
children or youth. Let not our children, in the very process of obtaining
an education, receive ideas that will prove to be seeds of sin. If those
with mature minds had nothing to do with such books, they would themselves
be far safer, and their example and influence on the right side would make
it far less difficult to guard the youth from temptation.
“We
have an abundance of that which is real, that which is divine. Those who
thirst for knowledge need not go to polluted fountains.”—Ministry
of Healing, 446-447.
“I am
given words of caution for the teachers in our schools. The work of our
schools should bear a different stamp from that borne by some of the most
popular of our institutions of learning. Many of the textbooks used in
these schools are unnecessary for the work of preparing students for the
school above. As a result the youth are not receiving the most perfect
Christian education. Those points of study are neglected that are most
needed to fit them for missionary work in home and foreign fields, and to
prepare them to stand in the last great examination. The education needed
is that which will qualify students for practical service, by teaching
them to bring every faculty under the control of the Spirit of God. The
study book of the highest value is that which contains the instruction of
Christ, the Teacher of teachers.
“The
Lord requires our teachers to put away from our schools those books
teaching sentiments which are not in accordance with His Word, and to give
place to those books that are of the highest value. He will be honored
when they show to the world that a wisdom more than human is theirs,
because the Master Teacher is standing as their instructor.
“There
is need of separating from our educational work an erroneous, polluted
literature, so that ideas which are the seeds of sin will not be received
and cherished as the truth. Let not any suppose that a study of books
which will lead to the reception of false ideas, is valuable education.
Those ideas which, gaining entrance to the mind, separate the youth from
the Source of all wisdom, all efficiency, all power, leaving them the
sport of Satan's temptations. A pure education for the youth in our
schools, unmixed with heathen philosophy, is a positive necessity.
“We
need to guard continually against those books which contain sophistry in
regard to geology and other branches of science. Before the theories of
men of science are presented to immature students, they need to be
carefully sifted from every trace of infidel suggestions. One tiny seed of
infidelity sown by a teacher in the heart of a student may spring up and
bring forth a harvest of unbelief. The sophistries regarding God and
nature that are flooding the world with skepticism are the inspiration of
the fallen foe. Satan is a Bible student. He knows the truths that are
essential for salvation, and it is his study to divert minds from these
truths. Let our teachers beware lest they echo the falsehoods of the enemy
of God and man.
“It
is a mistake to put into the hands of the youth books that perplex and
confuse them. The reason sometimes given for this study is that the
teacher has passed over this ground, and the student must follow. But if
teachers were receiving light and wisdom from the divine Teacher, they
would look at this matter in a very different way. They would measure the
relative importance of the things to be learned in school. The common,
essential branches of education would be more thoroughly taught, and the
Word of God would be esteemed as the bread sent down from heaven, which
sustains all spiritual life.”—Counsels to Parents and Teachers,
389-390.
“These
persons bring certain Scriptures together, and interpret passages of the
Bible, so as to give coloring to their views; but they are wresting the
Scriptures to make them appear to say that which they do not say. False
theories will thus be propagated in the world to the very end, and as long
as there are printing presses and publishing houses, erroneous matter will
be presented for publication, and books will be prepared for public
circulation.
“Should
there be no guard against the publication of erroneous theories, our own
publishing houses would become the agents for disseminating false
theories. Writers make a world of one or two items of theory, which others
cannot regard as important, and then the writer thinks his ideas are
greatly belittled.”—Counsels to Writers and Editors, 153-154.
Several years ago, I reported on a conversation with the
editor of the Walla Walla student newspaper. She phoned to complain to me
about my tract series which told about the atheism, faculty-student
homosexual club, intercollegiate sports craze, and wild music orgies at
the college, which the student newspaper had reported favorably in some
detail. During the conversation, I sought for some comparison by which to
impress on her how terrible were the teachings and activities at the
college,—and mentioned the terrible writings of Voltaire.
Shocked
at my remark, she instantly retorted that her literature teacher at the
college had directed her to Voltaire as a model of writing and literature.
So she had spent months carefully reading through all his writings with
great profit. Nothing I could say could dissuade her. All that was being
published, taught, and danced at Walla Walla was perfectly okay.
“It is said that Hume, the skeptic,
was in early life a conscientious believer in the Word of God. Being
connected with a debating society, he was appointed to present the
arguments in favor of infidelity. He studied with earnestness and
perseverance, and his keen and active mind became imbued with the
sophistry of skepticism. Erelong he came to believe its delusive
teachings, and his whole afterlife bore the dark impress of
infidelity.”—Child Guidance, 196.
“Voltaire
and his associates cast aside God’s Word altogether and spread
everywhere the poison of infidelity.”—Great Controversy, 281.
“When
Voltaire was five years old, he committed to memory an infidel poem, and
the pernicious influence was never effaced from his mind. He became one of
Satan’s most successful agents to lead men away from God. Thousands will
rise up in the judgment and charge the ruin of their souls upon the
infidel Voltaire.”—Child Guidance, 196.
You will recall that Voltaire
declared that, by the bitter onslaught of his books, he was going to
destroy Christianity within his lifetime.
“The infidel Voltaire once
boastingly said: ‘I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men
established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice
to overthrow it.’ Generations have passed since his death. Millions have
joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far from being destroyed,
that where there were a hundred in Voltaire’s time, there are now ten
thousand, yes, a hundred thousand copies of the book of God.”—Great
Controversy, 288.
Here is what Ellen White said about
two other atheists, who also spent their lives spilling a torrent of
attack on Christianity and defense of atheism:
“There is another class of books
that you should avoid—the productions of such infidel writers as Paine
and Ingersoll. These are often urged upon you with the taunt that you are
a coward and afraid to read them. Frankly tell these enemies who would
tempt you—for enemies they are, however much they may profess to be your
friends—that you will obey God, and take the Bible as your guide. Tell
them that you are afraid to read these books; that your faith in the Word
of God is now altogether too weak, and you want it increased and
strengthened instead of diminished; and that you do not want to come in
such close contact with the father of lies.
“I
warn you to stand firm, and never do a wrong action rather than be called
a coward. Allow no taunts, no threats, no sneering remarks, to induce you
to violate your conscience in the least particular, and thus open a door
whereby Satan can come in and control the mind.
“Suffer
not yourselves to open the lids of a book that is questionable. There is a
hellish fascination in the literature of Satan. It is the powerful battery
by which he tears down a simple religious faith. Never feel that you are
strong enough to read infidel books; for they contain a poison like that
of asps. They can do you no good, and will assuredly do you harm. In
reading them, you are inhaling the miasmas of hell. They will be to your
soul like a corrupt stream of water, defiling the mind, keeping it in the
mazes of skepticism, and making it earthly and sensual. These books are
written by men whom Satan employs as his agents; and by this means he
designs to confuse the mind, withdraw the affections from God, and rob
your Creator of the reverence and gratitude which His works demand.
“The
mind needs to be trained, and its desires controlled and brought into
subjection to the will of God.
“Instead
of being dwarfed and deformed by feeding on the vile trash which Satan
provides, it should have wholesome food, which will give strength and
vigor.”—Fundamentals of Education, 93-94.
May our people wake up, before it is
too late!
— vf
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