Answer:
If standing firmly for God’s law in the face of death is fanaticism, then the Reform Movement is guilty of it. But there is no argument now that the reformers took the right stand on the military and Sabbath question when the crisis came in 1914, and that the Seventh-day Adventist denomination yielded and apostatized at that time.
The facts are that Wieck never belonged to the Reform Movement, and obviously whatever he did cannot be charged to them. Mrs. Kersting, a false prophetess, tried to force her views on the Reform Movement members but did not succeed. Why cast this reflection on the Reform Movement? But such accusations are not new. Listen to God’s servant’s statement:
“In the days of the Reformation its enemies charged all the evils of fanaticism upon the very ones who were laboring most earnestly against it. A similar course was pursued by the opposers of the Advent Movement. And not content with misrepresenting and exaggerating the errors of extremists and fanatics, they circulated unfavorable reports that had not the slightest semblance of truth.” – Great Controversy, p. 397.
No, this Movement did not start with fanaticism and fanatics. It begun solely with the issue of keeping or violating God’s commandments.
