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Why did it all go quiet?
The challange of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists
When the Adventist church started, God was constantly sending messages and
visions to the church. Note only Ellen White but other Adventists were given
visions (e.g. about the Sanctuary truth), and God directed the activities of
the church even down to the fine details such as where to build church buildings.
However since the death of Ellen White God has been silent. The messages and
visions have stopped. It has gone quiet. Although this is not something
usually discussed among Adventists, individually many Adventists must
reflect on why this is so.Indeed not only have the direct spiritual
manifestations stopped, but the discovery of "present truth" has also come
to a halt. The understanding of prophecy for example is today almost
identical to that of 100 years ago. The interpretations of Daniel and
Revelation are the key texts to understanding prophecy. The many other
prophetic apocalyptic texts such as in Zechariah and Ezekiel still have no
"official" interpretation and the events of the twentieth century are
strangely missing from prophetic revelations. Privately Adventists must
think it strange that so many historical events are mentioned in prophecy up
to the ninteenth century, but none of the events of the twentieth century
are covered.
Not only has prophecy ceased in the church, but the church itself has now
become respectable. Far from the predictions of the early Adventists that
the remnant church would be reviled, persecuted and hated by the world it is
now another official orthodox Christian denomination.
The response of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists to these questions is very
different to that of traditional Seventh-day Adventism.
- For Davidian SDAs prophecy did not stop with EGW. Since her death God has
sent a number of prophets to guide his people, starting of course with
Victor Houteff. Like EGW these messengers have been shown visions and been
given present truth to lead the remnant church into all truth.
- For DSDAs the understanding of prophecy has continued at the pace of the
early Adventist church. DSDAs now have detailed explanations of many
Biblical symbols not simply from the books of Zechariah and Ezekiel but also
the prophecies in Deuteronomy, Job, Psalms and many other places.
- DSDAs also of course interpret events in the twenteth century in the
light of prophecy - perhaps the most important fulfilment being the
establishment of the state of Israel.
So Davidian SDAs pose an important challange to traditional Seventh-day
Adventism. As a tradition it has at least three important claims to being
the true SDA church, (1) it has continued to have the Spirit of Prophecy,
because God has continued to send prophets and messages to his people, (2)
it has continued to grow in present truth, and not simply set in stone the
truths of 100 years ago, and (3) it has understood world events in the
twentieth century in the light of Biblical prophecy, which is something the
early SDA church did but the current SDA church no longer does.
Finally it is certainly the case that the DSDAs and BDSDAs can claim to have
been reviled, persecuted and hated by the world, while the SDA church
continues to settle gently into the established Christian mainstream.
© John Mann, 2001-2005
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