Adventism a Doomsday Religion?
Koot van Wyk (Kyungpook National
University, Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College,
Australia)
The thoughts sparked off when I
noticed in the Dictionary of Islam written in 1885 by T. P. Hughes under
the title “Resurrection” that Islam has a Doomsday scenario outlined. An agenda
is set to happen all in a row with Jesus coming (43:61) to Damascus and then
going to Mecca. But not divine, just human. I once met professor Moshe Sharon in
his office at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and he gave me
his book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Chapter 4 deals with “The
Messianic Idea” and he explained that the word Messiah appears in all three
religions. In all three religions “the ideal word order will come at the end of
time, will not be subject to the notion of time, and as such will be both final
and eternal”. The function of the Messiah in the
three religions are different. From a Jewish perspective Sharon unfortunately
interpreted the biblical text not holistically and properly when he said: “the
biblical idea of reward and punishment is also connected with this world. The
worst punishment for the individual is death and nothing beyond that (see Ezek.
18).” Nothing beyond that? What about Isaiah 66? What about Daniel 12:1-2?
Sharon is not a good example here of the Jewish understanding of Messianism.
The Middle Age Rabbi Redak is a better option here and especially with
Abarbanel’s comments on some verses in the prophets, they are delightful
readings. Highly recommended. I do not know if Sharon was agnostic
but he seems confused in his ideas here. Adventists also have a biblical view
of the end-time. Buddhists idea of an everlasting cycle of things is just not
what God had in mind with the beginning and end of historic time. It would have
been eternal and cyclic if it was not for the failure of Adam and Eve in the
perfect Paradise supplied by God. But from the Fall to the final Hell event
(Armageddon), eternity is interrupted with history. We were born inside this
history. A history written with blood and suffering amidst hope and somewhat
joy. Says Sharon “the necessity for the
deterioration of the world before the coming of Messiah became an accepted
feature of the Messianic times, not only in Judaism but also in Christianity
and Islam” (page 126). The Pre-Messianic tribulations are seen as ḥevle
mashiyah = “Messiah’s pangs” in Judaism. It is seen as the ḥevle
ge’ulla = “the pangs of redemption”. The first Messiah or “son of Joseph” will
be killed in the Great war between the Gog and Magog and the second Messiah,
the son of David will come for the final redemption. This is all by Sharon and
explained by the Rabbis of the Middle Ages. For Adventists the tribulation will be
due to a network successfully uniting evil forces or multiple evil forces under
the banner of peace and wholesomeness, honoring universalism, humanism, and
persecuting particularism and individualism or religions like Adventists who
will not participate in ecumenism. Sunday is not Saturday and the First day of
the week is not the Seventh day of the week. Crows and chickens do not mix. One
cannot just wear a cloak of a crow just to make the crows happy. It is
destructive to the soul. Resurrection of the dead in Judaism
and Islam is connected to the Day of Judgment (page 127). Adventism too connected
the resurrection of the dead to the Judgment but they separate according to
Scripture in 1 Peter 4:17 the Investigative Judgment of the saints before the
Second Coming from the Executive Day of the Lord Judgment after the 1000 years
of Revelation 20 just before eternity starts finally. The reward comes before
the punishment in Jesus’ parables as well. Judaism believes that man cannot get
requital of his deeds while he is still in a state of death so the time for the
resurrection is seen to be at the Judgment (Sharon, page 128). Adventists
disagree for the book of Hebrews indicates that Christ is High Priest in heaven
for the sins of the sinners replacing the Tabernacle/Temple system in His body.
From the cleansing time of the Heavenly Sanctuary mentioned in Daniel 8:14,
after the 2300 years [years it must be because 490 are years according to
Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, George Ioye, Hugo Grotius] starting in 457 BCE
and ending in 1844. Strange that the Reformers started so well with 457 BCE for
the 490 years and then fell short of calculating the 2300 days as years of
Daniel 8:14. No wonder Adventists are Progressive Reformers! Now not all Christians are seeing the
difficult end-times the same. Some are expecting an Apocalyptic War ahead that
will be dangerous to believers. This Doomsday scenario makes many kill
themselves and their families in order to make sure that if they die before
Armageddon they will definitely be in Paradise. But this is not biblical. The
Bible makes it plain that by the time Armageddon will take place the faithful
are already resurrected and taken to heaven together for a 1000 years and that
Armageddon will only take place after the 1000 years in the Hell event. They
will come down from heaven in the New Jerusalem according to the Book of Zachariah
14 and the final Battle of God will take place. It is not a war between nations
or a Third World War, it is God’s War, to be precise, the War of Christ as the
Warrior Messiah eradicating all evil including Satan forever before creating
all things new for the faithful on this earth. Paradise then restored. About Islam Sharon continued: “Although
at the beginning of his prophetic activity Muḥammad
gave the impression that the Day of Judgment was near and impeding, he was soon
obliged to make it clear that final judgment and the ultimate reward and
punishment would be some time in the future in God’s own good time and subject
to His will” (page 140). In Islam they are expecting both Jesus
and a Mahdī
to come. “The circumstances of his appearance, and his role at the End of Days,
it is impossible to differentiate between Jesus and the Mahdī “ (Sharon, page 150). “He will appear
at the End of Time when Islam will deteriorate to its lowest state ever. The
Qur’ān will be forgotten and places of worship will be deserted” (Sharon
152-153). The Mahdī will then appear as the final true renewer [mujaddid] of
Islam. The
Bible says that there will be a hunger for the Word of God in the Last Days.
Digitally it is everywhere available but due to the smartphones, ‘people became
zombies and leaders became bullies’ [a South African journalist said this week
in Die Burger May 2018]. They flash flash never in the digital Bible. So yes,
there is a scarcity and hunger for the Word of God. They just do not know it
yet. When the egg hits the fan in the Time of Trouble described by Daniel
12:1-3, it is not a war against the evil but plaques and cosmic disasters
raining on the evil so that they blame the faithful. The faithful are protected
and kept alive by even “creations of food” by God for them in deserts where
they are hiding. So there is nothing to fear for the future for the faithful.
It is the evil that will be in a doomsday and they will not be the doomsday
creators for the faithful. Do
we have a Last Generation Theology? Yes we do. A well worked out programmic
chain of events deduced from the Scripture with careful exegesis. It can be
seen in diagrammic charts presented online by Gordon Collier if called up for.
References: Moshe Sharon, Judaism, Christianity
and Islam (Johannesburg: Snap Print, 1989). https://archive.org/details/ADictionaryOfIslamT.P.Hughes1885 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/20/jehovahs-witnesses-shunning-disfellowship-suicides/438499002/ http://www.sealingtime.com/store/product/the-closing-events-chart-by-gordon-collier-sr-1970