Born in 1840, 22nd September was a Methodists like Mrs. E. G. White
just before becoming a Seventh Day Adventist. Canright died in mid march
1919 after he had left the S.D.A. church and became a Baptist. No
funeral was held and none of his Baptist friends had come to see him.
See E G White page [opens in
a new window]
Canright had fallen down the stairs of his Baptist church Friday evening
and was found there Sunday morning. One of his legs had to be amputated.
At his own request, he was transferred from the city hospital to the
Adventist hospital and blind in one eye and confined to a wheel chair
and was a pitiful sight to behold. In march 12, 1919, he died of a paralytic
stroke.
Even tough Canright
was the most ardent critic of E.G. White, at her funeral, according to
"The Kingdom of Cults" page 385, last par., by Walter Martin, we read
the following: "Canright never ceased to believe that, despite
what he believed to be her errors in theology and her mistaken concept
of visions, she was a regenerate Christian. With his brother, Canright
attended the funeral of Mrs. White in 1915.
His brother described the occasion thus: "We joined the passing throng,
and again stood by the bier. My brother rested his hand upon the side of
the casket, and with tears rolling down his cheeks, he said brokenly
'There is a noble Christian woman gone.'
So why did Canright change churches? Let's first look
at his own testimony: " A short time since I attended the Northern
Michigan camp meeting with Elder Butler. Here we had a long time for
consultation, prayer, and careful examination of my difficulties. I
began to see that at least some of my objections were not tenable, and
that I myself was not right and in the light.
I saw that I had put a wrong meaning on some things, and that other
things were certainly true. If these were true, then I had certainly
been wrong all the way through. Everything looked different. Then I felt
how wrong, sinful, and in the dark I had been. My sins came up before me
as never before in all my life. Like Job, I cried, 'Wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent in dust and ashes.'
Friday, September 26, while on the camp ground at Jackson, Michigan, I
felt in my heart the most remarkable change that I have ever experienced
in all my life. It was a complete reversion of all my feelings. Light
and faith came into my soul, and I felt that God had given me another
heart. I never felt such a change before, not even when first
converted........I believe it was directly from heaven----the work of
the Spirit of God."--unquote
Now lets see what he wrote later after he left the Adventist Church:
"In the fall of 1884, Elder Butler, my old friend, and now at the head
of the advent work, made a great effort to get me reconciled and back at
work again. He wrote me several times, to which I made no answer.
Finally he telegraphed me, paid my fare to a camp meeting. Here I met
old friends and associations, tried to see things as favorable as
possible, heard explanations, etc. etc., till at last I yielded again. I
was sick of an undecided position. I thought I could do some good here
anyway; all my friends were here; I believed much of the doctrine still,
and I may go to ruin if I left them, etc. Now I resolved to swallow all
my doubts, believe the whole thing anyway, and stay with them for better
or for worth. So I made a strong confession, of which I was ashamed
before it was cold."--Seventh Day Adventism Renounced,p.49
Why Did Canright leave his closest friends?
It doesn't take much to figure this out. Three times
Dudley Canright left off preaching and returned to his farm. Speaking
against the prophet Ellen G. White, he wrote: "In a few days she had a
long written 'testimony' for wife and me. [accusing the prophetess with
lies, revenge, falsehood and trying to crush them] SDA
renounced,p.42
The New Testament speaks thus: "And ye have
forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of Him...but if ye be without chastisement, wherof all are
partakers, then ye are bastards, and not sons."--Hebrews 12:5-8
Reproof can come from any consecrated Christian showing concern for a
erring brother and the Holy Spirit of GOD then uses this, but here a
prophet of the Lord was shown secret sins of Brother Canright of which
he initially repented as shown in his testimony above, but then went
away again hardening his heart and shooting the messenger instead.
When one reads Ellen G White's books, they are full of JESUS CHRIST, but
when one reads D M Canright's material, not one word of Jesus but full
of criticism and character assassination.
What actually was it that D M Canright renounced?
He wanted to be freed from the Ten Commandments of GOD! The New
Testament calls the 10 Commandments the law of freedom [James
1:25;2:12]. So when they speak of snares or yoke of Adventism, they
actually mean GOD's sacred holy and spiritual law of morals [Romans
7:7-14].
Canright claimed that the law is dead.---Seventh Day Adventism
Renounced,p.388
In condemning Adventism, they are excusing themselves for living in
sin. When someone is happily married, he/she appreciates and value the
law to protect their marriage. But if someone tries to be free form the
other partner, the law is in the way.
Now notice how fully Mr. Canright the Adventist answers Mr. Canright
the Baptist before his defection: "Those who hold this theory teach
that all the ten commandments were abolished at the cross, and nine of
the ten re-enacted at the same instant! Of course this must have been
done simply to get rid of the Sabbath, as the law would have been
alright, but for that. Or, as some claim, the law was abolished at the
cross, and re-enacted at Pentecost, which leaves an interregnum of fifty
days without any law at all. Where no law is, there is no transgression.
Romans 4:15.---Iowa Reports Vol.XII, p 311.
D M Canright defected to a church that did not hold with his views, but
because of it, they could use him against the Adventists with their 'Three
Angels Messages' of Revelation 14, they did. Here is what the Baptist
Church Manual has to say about the Ten Commandments: "We believe that
the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral
government." Baptist Church Manual, art 12.
In the 1950's, Donald Grey Barnhouse from Eternity Magazine and a
Presbyterian Minister together with Walter Martin from the Christianity
today magazine, did some study on Seventh Day Adventism. Barnhouse
definitely saw that Seventh Day Adventists were not a cult, but Walter
Martin being a Baptist, had to uphold Canright being a Baptist also.
We believe that Mr. Canright retreated from light into darkness. It
mirrors the rest of Christianity when the Three Angels Messages denounce
spiritual Babylon as being fallen morally by warring with satanic
agencies against GOD,s moral law.
D M Canright on the Gospel!
Throughout his attacks, Mr. Canright gives the impression to his
readers that Seventh Day Adventists endeavour to secure salvation by
works of the law instead of through faith [trust] in JESUS CHRIST the
Lord of the Sabbath. Now, a statement could hardly be made about Seventh
Day Adventists that would be more completely misrepresentative than this
one. See here what S.D.A.'s believe on the
GOSPEL [opens in a new and
separate page]
Christ is Redeemer by virtue of His power as Creator. We read that: "We
have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," because
that " by Him were all things created". [Col.1:14,16]. If He
were not Creator, he could not be Redeemer. This means simply put that
redemptive power and creative power are the same. To redeem is to
create. This is shown in the statement of the apostle that the Gospel is
the power of God unto salvation; which statement is immediately followed by
another to the effect that the power of God is seen by means of the things that
have been made. [Rom.1:16,20].
The Psalmist prayed: "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right
spirit within me". [Ps.51:10]. the apostle says:' if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creation. [2.Cor.5:17]. And again: 'For
by grace are ye saved and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not by
works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in
Jesus Christ unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk
in them." [Eph.2:8-10].
Paul explains: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and
just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God
forbid! But sin, that it may appear sin, worketh death in me by that
which is good; that by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful."
Romans 7:12,13.
Notice here Paul's words "GOD FORBID" and "DEATH IN ME." What does Paul
mean by these expressions? We must see his other letters as well. In his
letters to the Galatians he writes: "But if, while we seek to be
justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore
Christ the minister of sin? God forbid!"--Gal.1:17
And again: "Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for
if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law."--Gal.2:21
"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not
known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had
said, Thou shalt not covet." Romans 7:7 The lust, or lust of the flesh
is covered by the last of the Ten Commandments, namely, you must be
content and not covet. Contentment only comes through JESUS.
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yeah, we
establish the law." Romans 3:31. True faith apparently establishes and not
abolishes the law.
The charge is often laid against us of legalism, meaning salvation by
works. Adventist have given the mammoth task of countering the general
apostasy of fallen Christianity [Babylon] constantly talking down the
holy law of GOD to discredit CHRIST's holy Sabbath day.
What does it mean to let your light shine? JESUS explains:
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven."--Matthew
5:16 Apparently, according to JESUS, recieving His light and let it
shine is counted as good works. The Gospel is apart from works. JESUS
and not works is our Saviour from sin. But sin is pointed out by the Ten
Commandment and therefore cannot be neglected as we will be judged by
them [James 2:10-12]. We are saved by faith, but judged by our works
[Revelation 20:12,13] We are being saved for the very purpose of doing
good works [Ephesians 2:10] Those who claim to be saved and do not have
to work, James tells them that faith without works is dead [ James
2:24-26] and no wonder Luther despised the book of James.
Here is a recent quote from the church D M Canright joined:" Any
evangelist will have false converts. Even the
Lord's Apostles did (Acts 8:20-21), but something is seriously wrong
when only a very tiny percentage of one's "converts" exhibit any
evidence of salvation. This is exactly what we see, though, in large
numbers of fundamental Baptist ministries. Hundreds, even thousands, of
salvations are claimed, though an extremely large percentage of these
converts (up to even 99%) demonstrate no biblical evidence that the
Spirit of God has regenerated them.--FBIS News Service, June 1, 2004.
[Canright was an evangelist with the Adventists, but became a 'Reverend'
with the Baptists and note that the word 'Reverend' is only found once
in the entire Bible and it refers to GOD alone.]
THE OFFENCE OF THE CROSS CEASING
By Thomas Scott
Leave out the holy character of God, the holy excellence of his law, the
holy condemnation to which transgressors are doomed, the holy loveliness
of the Saviour's character, the doctrine, and the holy tempers and
conduct of all true believers: then dress up a scheme of religion of
this unholy sort: represent mankind as in a pitiable
condition, rather through misfortune than by crime: speak much of
Christ's bleeding love to them, of his agonies in the garden and on the
cross; without shewing the need or the nature of the satisfaction for
sin: speak of his present glory, and of his compassion for poor sinners;
of the freeness with which he dispenses pardons; of the privileges which
believers enjoy here, and of the happiness and glory reserved for them
hereafter: clog this with nothing about
regeneration and sanctification, or represent holiness as somewhat else
than conformity to the holy character and law of God: and you make up a
plausible gospel, calculated to humour the pride, soothe the
consciences, engage the hearts, and raise the affections of natural men,
who love nobody but themselves.
And now no wonder if this gospel (which has nothing in it affronting,
offensive, or unpalatable, but is perfectly suited to the carnal
unhumbled sinner, and helps him to quiet his conscience, dismiss his
fears, and encourage his hopes,) incur no opposition amongst ignorant
persons, who inquire not into the reason of things; meet with a hearty
welcome, and make numbers of supposed converts, who live and die as full
as they can hold of joy and confidence, without any fears
or conflicts.
What wonder if, when all the offensive part is left out, the gospel
gives no offence? What wonder if, when it is made suitable to carnal
minds, carnal minds fall in love with it? What wonder if, when it is
evidently calculated to fill the unrenewed mind with false confidence
and joy, it has this effect? What wonder if, when the true character
of God is unknown, and a false character of him is framed in the
fancy,--a God all love and no justice, very fond of such believers, as
his favourites,--they have very warm affections towards him?
I would not give needless offence. Let this matter be weighed according
to its importance. Let the word of God be examined impartially. I cannot
but avow my fears that Satan has propagated much of this false religion,
among many widely different classes of religious professors; and it
shines so brightly in the eyes of numbers, who 'take all for gold that
glitters', that, unless the fallacy be detected, it bids fair to be the
prevailing religion in many places.
Thomas Scott, Letter and Papers, edited by John Stott (London: Seeley,
1824, pp. 441-444)
The New Testament starts with the Gospel of Matthew and in fact
all Gospels start first with showing the sinless life of JESUS and His
teachings and doctrines. So when Canright and all his succeeding critics
echo him by saying that all the teachings of JESUS was done while He was
obeying the old testament laws. This is directly contradicting JESUS who
said the following: "And He said unto them, Ye are
they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts:
for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight
of God. The law and the prophets were until John [the Baptist] : since
that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass [away], than one title of
the law to fail. Whosoever puts away his wife and marries another,
commits adultery.......Luke 16:15-18
Here is the clearest proof that the law and the prophets finnished at
CHRIST's baptism and that the holy moral law of the 10 Commandments are
never finish. Matthew also records the same saying about the 10
Commandments and Jesus is quoting only two of them: ..........MMMMM
Q.: If we are to be judged [1.Peter 4:17,18] by the 10 Commandments
[James 2:10-12] and a Christian be scarcely saved, how come that
Christians today take the liberty to be slaves of sin and hoping to be
saved? A.: The answer is simple, Christianity has morally fallen
[Revelation 14:8; 18:1-4] and individuals are being called out! Paul in
2Thess.2 wrote of the 'great' falling away or apostasy that would
occur before the second Advent by 'lawlesness'. It could mean less law,
but since the 1800's when the message of fallen Babylon was first
proclaimed, Christians everywhere are talking against the Ten
Commandments boldly.
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