The Silencing of Satan: The gospel of the investigative judgment

09: The Pre-Advent Judgment: Discussion starters

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Automatically red flags go up in the minds of your neighbors and they wonder if they are really safe with that person as their next door neighbor. As sinners, even though we have repented, we are never the less all serial killers in a very real sense and the inhabitants of Heaven are a bit nervous about the prospect of some of us being their next door neighbors. Because of that God gives them opportunity to "investigate" whether we are actually safe to be around. When we get to Heaven we won't have that same problem to contend with because we already know that the intelligent beings that live there are safe to be with.

However, there will be people that won't be there that we most certainly thought would be saved but actually are not. Because of that God will give us an opportunity to investigate the reasons why they are not there and maybe even to look into why some are there that we thought wouldn't be. I realize that the Bible says that books will be opened and that God will judge our works from what is written in them but I have a huge problem with that way of looking at the judgment. I prefer to think of the investigative judgment as simply that; His creation investigating God's judgments.

Besides, if God needs to look into the books of Heaven in order to judge then to me is He is far less of a God than the Bible says He is. According to scripture He knows everything being omniscient Job Another thing is that God is the only being in the universe that is able to judge the heart. The rest of us can only judge the result of what is in the heart which is the works that we do so we judge only from outward appearances while He judges the motives behind the works 1 Sam So why is the judgment based on works if God is the only one judging? Because of the difference in depth of judgment between God and His creatures we may sometimes question God's judgment.

But, God is not like us and doesn't become annoyed over His sheep who cannot see as He sees Isa So the great Almighty loving God of the universe allows His creatures to look into what He has judged and in so doing they actually judge His judgments. To me that is the largest part of the investigative judgment process both before and after the Second Advent whose outcome is that God has judged correctly; that His judgments are righteous and that people are where they ought to be.

In common usage the terms "investigative judgment" and "pre-Advent judgment" are interchangeable - just two terms for the same event. Investigative judgment is not generally used to refer to the investigation of the records of the lost during the millennium. It is true that Ellen White does say that "The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work, and takes place at a later period" Great Controversy, p She says that because the wicked basically aren't judged before the Second Advent - they are assumed to be unsaveable but then what about those that are marginal where there could be a question concerning what side they are really on.

Is there no judgment of any sort that separates the good from the bad before probation closes? We say that profession is meaningless that what a person does is the thing that really matters that because of that we are judged by our works. Surely we can see that professed Christians do some really bad things and that those who make no such profession do some very good things.

In fact we are told that there will be people in Heaven that never joined a church, never heard the name of Jesus, that never claimed to be religious but because they followed the leading of the Holy Spirit they will be saved. How and when will such people be judged worthy of salvation? Are the lines between saved and unsaved so distinct that there is no question at all about their status?

Besides, I suppose that I am entirely wrong in thinking the unthinkable; that maybe the judgment in Heaven has something to do with the great controversy, the settling of charges that Satan has made against God rather than being so much about us. Am I wrong in thinking that the question of why the wicked did what they did could possibly arise in their judgment? Or that maybe there might be a lingering question, a possibility of doubt, about God's involvement concerning them that needs to be settled before the controversy can fully end?

Are we really the center of the controversy rather than Christ where the settling of the whole thing rises or falls on what man does? Are we to be so arrogant that Job could say to us as he said to his friends, "No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! Are we as a people so important that God can't do anything without us?

Therefore, can we in fact say that if a loved one does not make it into Heaven that will we have no questions at all about their judgment; whether they were rightly excluded from Heaven?

The Silencing of Satan: The Gospel of the Investigative Judgment

If these things could be so then wouldn't all of that be considered an investigative judgment, at least of sorts? I am not sure just why you think that it is unthinkable that the judgement in Heaven has something to do with the great controversy. The whole plan of salvation, the sacrifice, the mediation, the judgement or judgements, depending on your viewpoint and final execution are all part of the great controversy and its resolution.

Yet, beginning early on, the investigative judgment doctrine has had a rough ride. In the past few decades its troubles became greater. With many it has fallen out of favor. Non-Adventist critics have multiplied. Yet, as seen in the first chapter there is plenty of evidence to show that the investigative judgment is true at its most fundamentally important level: According to Scripture, God investigates believers.

It is surprising but true that the investigative judgment is more biblically sound than the Adventist pioneers reasoned. How can such a statement be defended? In , in his book, God and His Sanctuary, the late Dr. Mervyn Maxwell, while defending Adventism's investigative judgment doctrine, stated, "Although the terms are not used in the Bible, for convenience we can speak of phases of the final judgment that deal with ' investigation ,. In , in his book, The Sanctuary, Roy Adams indicates his agreement that there are no Scriptures that clearly teach that the judgment is investigative in nature.

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Adams wrote, "It has not always been easy to provide a straightforward demonstration of the particular notion of an investigative judgment in Scripture. The first angel's message or the investigative judgment. Ballenger wrote three booklets: They are paged here the same as the originals page numbers in brackets. These are very rare books and are really worth reading to understand Adventism and their false teachings. The battle of Armageddon represents the last of a series of judgments which terminate with the second coming of Christ at the beginning of the thousand years, or the millennium.

This series of judgments is announced by a solemn but joyful message recorded in Rev. The common version which reads "Having the, everlasting gospel to preach," is not in harmony with the original.

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The text has no reference to the gospel of salvation from sin through the death of Christ. This angel's good tiding is something very different. The word "gospel" which appears in our common version occurs seventy-seven times in the New Testament, but this [2] is the only instance where it appears without the definite article "the" or some other definite modification like "my gospel," "our gospel," or "gospel of God.

If the term "eternal good news," or gospel, does not refer to salvation from sin, to what does it refer? Bear in mind that the Greek word from which "gospel" is translated means good news, or good tidings. There are many kinds of good news, but not all good news is the gospel of salvation from sin.

David said that Ahimaaz "is a good man, and cometh with good tidings, " 2 Sam. The lepers who entered the abandoned camp of the Syrian army said, "This day is a day of good tidings, "but it was not the good news of salvation from sin; no, it was salvation from starving to death.

The silencing of satan : the gospel of the investigative judgment

If a parent in any live Christian family should say to a child, "Bring me the book," the child without inquiry would bring the Bible. Without, the definite article "the" a child could bring any book and obey the request of the parent. Seventh-day Adventists have a phrase which is more common to their parlance than "the gospel" is to the New Testament. It means "the third angel's message. But if he said, "I love the truth," he would be classified at once as one of them. If a man should declare that he loved and obeyed "the truth" but did not keep the seventh-day Sabbath, they would at once accuse him of bearing false testimony; but if he said "truth" they would consider him a good prospect.

The omission of the definite article "the" from the expression "the truth," is very significant to every S. It is no less significant when omitted from before "gospel" in the first angel's message. The angel tells exactly what his good news is. Refer back to the scripture as quoted and it will be clear to the careful reader what the good news of the message is. No, it is not " Fear God and give glory to Him," for that is not good news, but an exhortation in view of the good news. No, it is not worship Him that made heaven and earth," for that also is an exhortation. The good news is couched in seven words of everlasting glad tidings, "the hour of His judgment is come.

This good news is not salvation from the sins of a wicked world, but from its sinners. That the announcement, "the hour of His judgment is come" is indeed good [4] news is, abundantly shown in the same book of Revelation. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? This loud cry of the blood of the martyrs for punitive judgment is answered with the statement that they "that dwell on the earth" will kill the brethren of these martyrs for a "little season," yet future, and then the cry for judgment will be answered.

When the hour comes for this bloody work of killing the saints to be ended forever in the destruction of those who have drunk their blood, will not the announcement that this judgment hour has come be indeed good news to the saints of both heaven and earth? And this is the good news of the first angel's message. Notice that the souls under the altar are not begging the Lord to start an investigation to see whether an atonement should be made at the mercy-seat to silence the claims of a broken law for their death as transgressors of that law; but they are crying to God with a loud voice petitioning Him to "judge.

Let us now notice those scriptures which record the answer of God to the cry of the martyrs for judgment upon their persecutors, and the joy and rejoicing which follows. I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. Speaking to the nations whom Babylon has made drunk with the wine of her fornication, God says:. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow [6] give her: Therefore shall, her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. For in one hour is thy judgment come.

And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. The word "judgment" or "judgments" in Rev. By what authority can any one affirm that "judgment" in the first angel's message means something else, when they are all translated from the same Greek word? By this time the reader must be deep [7] ly impressed with the truth that the announcement that the hour of God's judgment is come, is indeed "eternal good tidings," and it is good tidings because it announces the destructive judgments of God upon the persecutors of His saints and their eternal deliverance thereby.

But the shouting has only begun. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia for the, Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Who has been reigning? Notice that all this tremendous rejoicing in heaven and earth, of the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures and the saints "small and great," is over the fact that the hour of God's judgment has come and He has by His punitive judgments delivered His saints from those who were persecuting them.

The first angel's message is therefore plainly, eternal good tidings from [8] God, when it announces that "the hour of his judgment is come. The first angel will deliver his message when Babylon begins to declare "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow ": Who is able to make war with him? It will take men of more than ordinary faith and courage to give the first angel's message, and it will take more than human power to prevent these messengers from being wiped off the earth.

But God will have faithful servants to deliver His message when the time comes and He will take care of them. The i nvestigative j udgment in Advent h istory. The first angel's message or "judgment message," as it is called in Advent parlance, was given by Wm. Miller and his followers prior to Oct.

They gave the correct interpretation of this message. The idea that a cleansing work was to take place in heaven never entered their minds. They taut that the judgment of the first message was the [9] destruction of the wicked. After the great disappointment of Oct. As they continued to look and wait they were plunged into deeper and deeper perplexity. Explanations of their disappointment multiplied. As new theories were advanced the Advent band was divided into many factions.

There were two outstanding differences of interpretation which resulted in parting the Advent believers into two very hostile camps. These two teachings related to the close of probation and the termination of the 2, days.

The seventh-day Sabbath came in a little later which widened the breach between the two factions. Early in one group began teaching that they had made a mistake in their reckoning and therefore the 2, days did not end in They readjusted their figures and continued to set dates for the termination of the prophetic periods and the coming of the Lord. For a time they also taut the "shut door" but in April, they met in conference at Albany, N. This group turned against the seventh-day Sabbath and, were therefore called First-day Adventists.

The other group, led by James White and wife, Joseph Bates, and others, continued to stand stoutly for the termination of the 2, days in , the "shut [10] door" and later, for the Sabbath. They of course were called Seventh-day Adventists. These outstanding differences which distinguished the two groups no well informed, honest Adventist will deny. Both factions continued to set time for the Lord to return: The followers of the Whites never varied from their teaching that the 2, days terminated Oct.

Having fixed the date their only explanation lay in the event that took place in Both groups were blessed with fertile imaginations and they made good use of them. One ran wild on shifting dates for the beginning and ending of the prophetic periods, while the other kept pace by portraying heavenly scenes and by this means shifted dates for the Lord to come. Early in their disappointment the S. This was of short life. Then He had gone into the most holy to make atonement: The last and most permanent theory, the one still taut, is known as the investigative judgment.

The investigative judgment as, taut by the denomination is an invention, and [11] not a discovery. It was the outgrowth of a series of very grievous disappointments.

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We will let James White and Mrs. White define what they mean by the investigative judgment. White, Great Controversy , p. With these plain statements before them the Review and Herald, Oct. The reason for a judgment, then, is that finite beings may not only believe that God is just, but that we may know both the perfection of His justice and the depth of His mercy. In this statement the denominational paper puts itself squarely against their own prophet in two points.

White and all the denominational litera[12]ture teach that the I. White repeatedly states that the angels do know. Also, the denomination including Mrs. White, teach that the I. Then how inconsistent to teach that an I. The Judgment is now passing in the sanctuary above. Forty years has this work been in progress.

Soon—none know how soon—it will pass to the cases of the living. White, Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. If it had been in progress for forty years in , it has now been in progress for over The theory of the I. Bates taut the I. That day will be years long.

First Angel's Message by Ballenger

The event which will introduce the Judgment day, will be the coming of the Son of Man, to raise the sleeping saints, and to change those that are alive at that time This was published in May, , yet Brother Bates continued to teach his theory of the I. To meet this heresy of Capt. White had a vision Jan. In this vision she says; [14].

The Silencing of Satan : The Gospel of the Investigative Judgment (2006, Paperback)

These quotations show that James White and his wife did not believe the I. White defined the wrath of God to mean the seven last plagues. See Early Writings, p. We can therefore substitute the "seven last plagues" in the above quotation for "the wrath of God. It would then read, "I saw that the anger of the nations, the seven last plagues, and the time to judge the dead, were separate and distinct, one following the other. This was given Jan. Therefore, the seven last plagues must have come before this date, or the I.

But we have more positive evidence on part of James White against the I. In the Advent Review of Sept.

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