Sunday, January 28, 2024

Francis M. Darter's Critique of the SDA Interpretation of Daniel 8:14, Part 1

  

THE WRITER’S REPLY

 

Justice to the reader of these lines demands that I first mention the fact that only a portion of the Adventists accept Uriah Smith’s idea that this sanctuary was set up in the heavens in 1844. (See p. 622 above book.)

 

Friends: I personally consider the above extracts of testimony to be of great value with one exception, which in reality, spoils the whole. (1) We agree on the time (A.D. 1843-44) for the complete fulfillment of this prophecy covering the restoration of Temple work; (2) This work to be done in a “Holy Sanctuary”; (3) The work in the Sanctuary to include a vicarious work for the dead; (4) Also for the living; (5) The reality of Priesthood, Jesus Christ being a great High Priest; (6) The broad plan of salvation that work is now going on for the dead. (Peter informs us that Christ began this work for the dead during the three days His body was in the comb. I Cor 15:29; I Peter 3:18-20; 4:4-6.) (7) The near approach of the coming of Christ and His glorious Millennial Reign to take up a salvation work for the living.

 

But here is where we divide. (1) Uriah Smith places the restoration of this Sanctuary in the heavens, while the Prophet Joseph Smith and 750,000 Latter Day Saints place its fulfilment on this earth. Uriah Smith makes no claim to having received a revelation declaring such a strange fulfillment of this prophecy. Whereas, Joseph Smith records various revelations and visions, jointly seen by MANY OF HIS BRETHREN pertaining to the heavenly beings who descended and restored the actual keys, knowledge, and authority to establish this Temple work on earth.

 

(2) The building of certain Temples has been foretold by prophecy; which has been fulfilled by their actual construction on earth; so why should this certain one be constructed in the heavens? The one referred to in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, as previously quoted, is to be restored among the Jews before the coming of Christ in the land that God gave unto Jacob.

 

Now then, if the fulness of the Gospel is to b restored unto the Gentiles first in the Latter Days, as previously shown, then the setting up of a Sanctuary of Temple among them MUST PRECEDE the one to be restored unto the Jews. Mal. 3:1-7.

 

(3) If this Temple work is to be confined in the heavens for the dead only until the second coming of the Lord, then I would like to show the reason for the second coming of Elijah as promised to precede the second coming of the Lord, wherein, he is to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.” Mal. 4:5, 6. Now to us this means: he was to come in person and establish this temple work in the Sanctuaries for the living and the dead. This mission and prophecy was fulfilled on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple. The Lord, through Malachi, tells us:

 

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” (4:5. I quote the writings of Joseph Smith citing the above fulfillment:

 

13. “After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for Elijah the prophet, who was taken up to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said—14. Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken by the mouth of Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come; 15. To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. 16. Therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.” D. C. 110:13-16.

 

The spirit of Elijah has since this date covered the world. If you question it, go into your libraries, there you will find thousands of men and women searching out their family genealogy. They are not satisfied with the record of their great grand parents, but they go back hundreds of years. Others, blessed with greater financial support, are spending fortunes in publishing volumes of genealogy data. In the Latter Day Saints’ Temples over twelve million ordinances have been ceremonized to date.

 

Now, what is the sequence of all this work? It resolves that when the eyes of the world are fully opened up and they realize that Joseph Smtih was a Prophet of God, they will then be in a position to do temple work for their people.

 

In the Spirit world, we are told, that the spirits can accept the Gospel and its ordinances, but the ordinances must be actually performed by the living on their behalf. Space prevents my citing thousands of cases, which would require volumes to cover the miracles, wherein this work has been miraculously made known to the living among the Latter Day Saints, and the securing of the life records of the dead made possible.

 

For various other Temple blessings, anointings, and sealings, the reader is referred to church publications covering these subjects. We now return to our analysis of Mr. Uriah Smith’s interpretation of this 1843 Temple restoration. (Francis M. Darter, “The Time of the End”: Mysteries of Daniel Unveiled [Los Angeles: Wetzel Publishing Company, 1928], 204-7)