The Martin Barnhouse Cobferences

THE BEGINNING OF THE END: DH:101 The Martin-Barnhouse “Evangelical Conferences” and their aftermath To faithful Seventh-day Adventists back in the mid-fifties it was a fearful doctrinal crisis in our Church. But to the believers in our day it is now seen to have marked the beginning of the end. For the errors that the so-called “Evangelical Conferences" brought into our denomination grew throughout the sixties and seventies and were used by modernists in our Church, such as Desmond Ford, to lay a solid foundation for what is now called the "new theology." There would be no "new theology" in our Church today if certain of our leaders had not welcomed its theological roots back in the mid-fifties. At that time, certain Evangelical Protestants asked a small group of our leaders to reconsider the stated doctrinal beliefs of our denominationand, if possible, to restate them in "theological terms" that would be acceptable to the Protestant world around us. This seemed but a small concession in view of the golden opportunity held out before us: unity and fellowship with the other Protestant Churches. There is wisdom in many counselors. And if many counselors had been consulted, they would have pointed out that unity and fellowship with the other Protestant Churches is not one of the objectives of the Second Angel's message of Revelation 14:8, much less that of the Third Angel which follows it. "Babylon is fallen" and "Come out of her, My people" is the call; not "Go in and have doctrinal unity with her." (Revelation 14:8 with 18:1-5, and Great Controversy, 603- 4, 390) But many in our time do not realize how firmly the error was placed in the foundations of the Church back in the mid-fifties. In fact, many do not realize that it was laid at all back then! But history is a wise teacher. As we study the past we are better prepared to understand the present and meet its challenges. And the present has challenges. You will find as you read Section Twenty-one, of this lengthy documentarythat you are suddenly being thrust into the present. Walter Martin is again demanding "answers" from the General Conference. He has recently told us so himself. The new set of "questions on doctrine" have already ready been submitted to them. What will our leaders do in reply? -What kind of doctrinal replies will they give? And what kind of letters are you going to write? urging them to stand true to historic doctrinal Adventism, in spite of the liberals and the Fordites in our midst and the Martin's and the other churchmen without? This is no time to haul down our banner. The Third Angel's Message is inscribed upon it. God has placed you in this world at this time in history for a purpose. Stand true to that purpose, no matter what the cost may be. The Bible-Spirit of Prophecy teachings bequeathed to the Adventist Church are more precious than all else besides. Some go out to the modernists and others flee to the offshoots. But God wants men and women who will stand up IN the Church and "sigh and cry" for the abominations that now threaten it from all sides. 1 "The Beginning of the End" is urgently needed now;more so than at any earlier time in our history. Read it carefully and then share it with others. Discuss the issues with those who need to know these issues, Seventh-day Adventists whom you are acquainted with. Here is the story of the beginning of the endhow it came about and what it led to many years ago. Here is the story of the beginning of the great doctrinal apostasy of our time, that has since developed into a major "new theology "attempted takeover. Here is the story of the beginning at a time when we are nearing the end. -VanceFerrell, for Pilgrims' Rest - SECTION ONE - 1977 - "ADVENTIST HERITAGE" ARTICLE (Although written and published twenty years later (in 1977), yet this article provides a very helpful introduction to the entire Martin-Barnhouse General Conference affair. We shall reproduce the entire article here. It is written from the standpoint of both a defense of the General Conference participation in these conferences and their subsequent publication of the book, "Questions on Doctrines." And this is good. This major documentary, "The Beginning of the End, " will start with a thoroughgoing defense of what was done back in the mid-fifties. In this way, as you read through this entire documentary, you will be enabled to have seen both sides of the issue from the large number of materials from articles, books, letters and personal statements that will be presented to you. T.E. Unruh, along with Roy Allen Anderson, and LeRoy Edwin Froom, were the primary figures leading out in the Adventist side of those Evangelical Conferences. Walter R. Martin and Donald Grey Barnhouse were the leaders on the Evangelical Protestant side. Anderson was the coordinator and authority figure that kept the wheels rolling toward Adventist-Protestant unity in these Conferences. Froom was the researcher and the one, along with Anderson, who did most of the writing. Martin was the one who approached the Adventists for information and possible conferences to help him in the writing of his forthcoming book about our Church and its doctrinal positions. Although a little dubious about it all, Barnhouse was Martin's influential backer both in the Conferences and the writing of his book. Unruh was the man that initially got them all together to start with. His part in the later Conferences was not as significant. It was primarily Anderson, Froom, and Martin that made the decisions, wrote the books and led out in the defense of entire transaction, by which Adventists moved several significant steps closer to the fallen churches. The following was a magazine article. It was entitled "The Seventh-day Adventist Evangelical Conferences of 1955-1956, " and was written by Elder T.E. Unruh (the Unruh mentioned above). By the time it was written (1977) only Unruh, Anderson, Figuhr and Martin were still alive. One individual (the General Conference man who comments on the Evangelical Conferences later in this documentary) maintains that this magazine article was Okayed by Unruh but due to his advanced age not actually written by him. Here is the complete article. It originally appeared in the Fourth Quarter, 1977 issue of “Adventist Heritage”, a scholarly journal containing articles of miscellaneous interest to the lover of minute points of earlier Adventist history. Unruh is now de- ceased.] 2 The Seventh-day Adventist Evangelical Conferences of 1955-1956 T. E. Unruh Now living in Grand Terrace, California, T. E. Unruh is a retired minister. When the events described here took place, Unruh was president of the East Pennsylvania Conference. A series of conferences between Seventh day Adventist and Evangelical leaders, begun in the spring in 1955 and running into the summer of 1956, led to the publication of two books: the first, Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine; the second, The Truth About Seventh-day Adventism. The first is a definitive statement of contemporary Adventist belief, established on a broad international consensus of church leaders and prepared for publication by a representative committee appointed by the officers of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The second work, by Walter R. Martin, a leading expert on American cults, defines and examines Seventh day Adventist doctrines, using the first work as source and authority. In his book Martin removed the Seventh-day Adventist church from his list of non-Christian cults and acknowledged that all whose beliefs followed the Questions on Doctrine should be counted members of the Body of Christ (the Christian church in the Evangelical definition) and therefore his brethren. While some Adventist and non- Adventist dissidents have been vociferous in their denunciation of the Adventist definitions and the Evangelical evaluation, in retrospect the conferences improved the understanding and appreciation of the Seventh-day Adventist church on the part of many Evangelical leaders, and likewise warmed many Adventist leaders toward the Evangelicals. It was a time when the gates between sheepfolds stood open. There was no thought of precipitating anything of such historic consequence when I wrote a letter on November 28, 1949, commending Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse for his radio sermons on righteousness by faith based on the book of Romans. At the time, Dr. Barnhouse was a popular radio preacher, minister of the Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, author of a number of Evangelical books, and founder and senior editor of the influential Eternity magazine. I was the president of the East Pennsylvania Conference, with headquarters in Reading. In his reply to my letter Barnhouse expressed astonishment that an Adventist clergyman would commend him for preaching righteousness by faith, since in his opinion it was a well-known fact that Seventh-day Adventists believed in righteousness by works. He went on to state that since boyhood he had been familiar with Adventists and their teachings, and that in his opinion their views about the nature and work of Christ were Satanic and dangerous. He concluded by inviting this strange Adventist to have lunch with him. We did not then get together for lunch, but we did correspond for a time. I returned a soft answer to the first letter from Barnhouse and sent him a copy of Steps to Christ, at the same time affirming the evangelical character of Adventists doctrine. I thought we had an agreement that Barnhouse would publish no further criticism of Adventists before there was further contact and clarification.

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