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March 12, 2011

THE BODY OF MOSES

"The body of Moses:  Moses died on Mount Nebo in Moab without having entered the Promised Land and was secretly buried in a place not known to man (Deut. 34:5,6).  It would likely be that this confrontation took place as Michael buried Moses to prevent Satan from using Moses' body for some diabolical purpose not stated. Perhaps Satan wanted to use it as an idol, an object of worship for Israel.  God sent Michael, however, to be certain it was buried.  This account was recorded in the pseudepigraphal Assumption of Moses. Rather than personally cursing such a powerful angel as Satan, Michael deferred to the ultimate sovereign power of God following the example of the Angel of the Lord in Zechariah 3:2.  This is the supreme illustration of how Christians are to deal with Satan and demons. Believers are not to address them, but rather to seek the Lord's intervening power against them." (Excerpt from The MacArthur Bible Commentary, page 1983)


POINTS TO PONDER FOR ADVENTIST READERS:  God didn't allow Moses to enter the earthly land of Canaan because of his blatant disobedience, but then God supposedly (according to SDA apologists) turned right around and took him to heaven instead. What punishment is this for his disobedience?  Truly, such reasoning greatly belittles the consequences of sin.  The only reason why Adventists do this amazing twist is to somehow get around the fact that Moses appeared with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. Adventists rely upon the legendary, pseudepigraphal account known as the "Assumption of Moses" to teach that Moses was resurrected from the dead and taken to heaven.  Primarily, however, they ascribe to this unbiblical view because their revered prophetess affirmed it.  The Bible nowhere even alludes to the notion that Moses' body was resurrected and taken to heaven.


Since Adventists don't believe in the dualistic nature of man, consisting of both material and immaterial entities (body and spirit), they are in a dilemma to figure out how Moses could appear with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Of course, if Moses was resurrected from the dead then Jesus would not have been the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20).  This theological logjam clearly reveals that if we don't get Genesis right, it clouds our understanding of the entire Bible.  The Bible is God's voice speaking to us.  Any heretical thought superimposed upon Scripture creates immeasurable confusion.


Moses was such an icon in the mind of the Hebrew people that they couldn't bear the thought of him being dead and buried.  Likewise, after 33 days from her third funeral, Ellen White was finally interred at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, Michigan.  They just couldn't bear the thought that their acclaimed prophetess had actually died. After all, she was supposedly an "inspired" health instructor—although an often ailing one—who insisted that being sick is a sin.


Adventists had been so proud of having an actual living prophet in their midst, but now she had entered the state of nonexistence.  She was "gone, gone" like Adventists speak of the deceased.  She was now merely in the memory of God like a fallen sparrow. There was supposedly no continuation of her personhood, and she could not even "await" the call of the Lifegiver.   Truly, not even God can resurrect someone who doesn't exist in any form. The very meaning of the word "resurrection" cannot  denote being somehow restored from  nothingness. The inherent miracle of the resurrection, as defined in Scripture,  is certainly not a cloning process nor some form of  re-creation/transmigration from extinction and/or nonexistence. 


Moreover, in multiple statements, she had predicted that the second coming of Christ would be only a few weeks or months away at the longest. Consequently, Ellen White's death in 1915 became yet another disappointment in their  time-setting pattern.   This was the direct result of  a few Millerites who were unable to bear the thought that they were actually wrong about October 22, 1844. Therefore, they invented an alibi (an exclusive "investigative judgment" theory) to still maintain their time-setting error and to save face at the same time.





courtesy of

DENNIS FISCHER MINISTRIES
Worldwide Chaplaincy Services
E-mail:  dfministries@gmail.com
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