Strom/Mowery Debate on Premillenialism

 
 
 Proposition: 
 The view of PREMILLENNIALISM, as viewed by the SEVENTH DAY 
 ADVENTIST, is unscriptural.
 
 Affirm:  Dub Mowery
 Deny:  Bob Strom
 
 The proposition in which I am affirming states:  "The view of 
 PREMILLENNIALISM, as viewed by the SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST, is 
 unscriptural.  In fact, ALL religious views of a literal 
 interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6 are false.  Most 
 premillennialists believe that at the second coming of Christ, He 
 will raise the righteous dead and reign with all the righteous 
 for 1,000 years here upon earth.  Afterwards, the Lord will 
 resurrect the unrighteous for the general judgment, wherein those 
 eternally lost will be condemned to eternal damnation in hell, 
 and the righteous to eternal life in heaven.  This seems to be 
 the general belief of most premillennialists, although there 
 are variations among them on some related specifics.  The 
 religious group that chooses to call itself Jehovah's Witnesses 
 claim that only 144,000 will go to heaven, and that the remaining 
 redeemed will live on a renovated earth forever.  This is 
 according to their understanding of the 7th chapter of 
 Revelation.  Bob, it is my understanding, that the religious 
 group in which you are a member, known as the Seventh Day 
 Adventist Church, teaches that at the second coming of Christ, He 
 will be instrumental in killing off all of the unrighteous (those 
 who have not been redeemed by His blood); resurrect the righteous 
 dead and take all of the righteous back with Him to heaven for a 
 1,000 years.   During those 1,000 years, the earth will only be 
 inhabited by the devil and his angels.  At the end of those 1,000 
 years the Son of God will return to the earth with the righteous.  
 Wherein He will resurrect the unrighteous and conduct the general 
 judgment.  When Satan and his host attempt to interfere, the Lord 
 will destroy them with fire.  Since the Seventh Day Adventist 
 does not believe in an eternal hell, the spiritually lost will be 
 annihilated by the Lord.  Jesus will then live upon the earth 
 with the righteous forever.  The earth will have been renovated 
 as a new earth.  Bob, does that pretty well sum up the basic 
 beliefs of the Seventh Day Adventist Church concerning the end of 
 time and the events thereafter?  It is my contention in this 
 debate that there is NOT any Biblical foundation for those 
 concepts.  There will be a resurrection of both the righteous and 
 unrighteous at the same time (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).  The 
 eternal home of the righteous will be in the heaven of heavens, 
 in which the Heavenly Father dwells (II Cor. 5:1-9).
 
 On a web site entitled, "Adventist Church Official Web site", 
 there is the following statement:  "Adventists look forward to 
 the soon return of Jesus Christ as prophesied and as he himself 
 promised, but not set any date for the glorious event when he 
 comes to take home all who accept him as their Lord."  Although I 
 agree that Jesus Christ will return at the end of time to receive 
 the redeemed, there are two things stated in that statement in 
 which I wish to inquire about.  Although every generation should 
 anticipate the possible return of the Son of God, how does the 
 Adventists conclude that Christ will come soon?  What indications 
 are there to cause you people to make a definite statement that 
 He will soon return?  The other thing of significance in which I 
 wish to make comments on is that the Adventist are not setting 
 any dates in attempting to foretell when Christ will actually 
 return.  Obviously that would be the wise thing for the Adventist 
 to do considering its past history in this matter.  William 
 Miller, who set two different dates for the second coming of 
 Christ in the 1800s according to his chart of prophecy, failed to 
 successfully foretell the time for Christ's return.  His movement 
 was known both as the Millerites and the Second Adventist.  When 
 he was humiliated, his influence wavered.  As his followers began 
 to splinter into smaller groups, a young married woman by the 
 name of Ellen Gould White, who claimed to receive visions, 
 obtained the leadership of a larger part of that movement.  She 
 first attempted to explain away Mr. Miller's failure in 
 foretelling the time of Christ's return.  Mrs. White then claimed 
 that God put a false prophecy in the mouth of his prophet William 
 Miller.  In a book bearing the title, "The Early Writings of Mrs. 
 White," containing her supposed visions, on page 99 under 
 "Spiritual Gifts," she wrote concerning God, "His hand covered a 
 mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods.  Those who 
 were looking for their Lord did not discover this mistake, and 
 the most learned men who opposed the time also failed to see it.  
 God designed that his people should meet with disappointment."  
 Now according to this so-called prophetess, God knew that it was 
 wrong, but put a lie in William Miller's chart.  In this way God 
 used Miller to deceive the people in order that they would meet 
 with disappointment.  The scripture reveals at Hebrews 6:18 that 
 it is impossible for God to lie.  It is against His perfect moral 
 nature to lie.  Hear what the Word says about those who make 
 false prophecies:  "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the 
 Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the 
 thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken 
 it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deut. 
 18:22).
 
 Bob, I did not include some of the things above despitefully, but 
 rather to lay the groundwork of proving my proposition that the 
 premillenial view of the Seventh Day Adventist Church is not 
 Biblical and therefore a false theory.
 
 Sincerely, 
 Dub Mowery