THE July 15th 1997 issue of the Watchtower magazine contains an
article entitled "The Investigative Judgement A Bible Based
Doctrine?"
The article is basically a refutation of a key doctrine held
by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, based on Daniel 8:14, which teaches that
upon Christ's ascension to heaven, He entered the holy part of the Heavenly Sanctuary.
But, in the year AD 1844 He entered the Most Holy compartment
where He cleansed the sanctuary by His blood (as depicted by the High Priest
on the Day of Atonement) and began a judgement work on all professed Christians
(living and dead) to see if they were worthy or not to be written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Now while
the above WT article, in the main, does a fairly good job in refuting
this teaching, in usual fashion the WT Society shoots a big hole in
its own foot during the process.
For example, on page 26 as part of its arsenal against the
S.D.A.s, the WT Society quotes Professor Anthony A. Hoekema to back up its article,
but fails to say where the quote comes from.
The simple reason for this oversight is that Anthony Hoekema
made his statement on page 146 of his major work "Four Major Cults".
A book in which Jehovah's Witnesses also have their own boat blown clear out
of the water.
So while the WT article quotes and documents other statements
from different sources, it wants rank and file JWs to be kept in ignorance of
their quote from Professor Hoekema's work.
For while the Governing Body may read opposition literature,
it doesn't want rank and file JWs to do the same (information control is a cult
hallmark).
So, in this brief treatment of the WT article we have to reach
our own investigative judgement which can be none other than that of our Lord
Jesus Christ in His stern words of Matthew 7:1-5.
The WT Society attempts to remove a splinter from the eye
of Seventh Day Adventism, while a huge plank lies in its own eye.
In the words of Jesus Christ we offer the only verdict possible "Thou
Hypocrite!"
Note:
While Seventh Day Adventists hold to some irritating doctrines,
it must be admitted that there are some fine Born Again believers among them.
This, however, is not true of Jehovah's Witnesses who are
light years away from historical Biblical Christianity.
