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| "We Studied Our Way Out of the Seventh-day Adventist Church" | |
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Honest Answers for Real People |
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Hello friend, this is Brother Anderson, and I want to personally welcome you to the final study on Adventist Truth versus Bible Truth! This study is a little different, because I am going to share with you from my own personal experience of 33 years in the SDA Church why I believe that Seventh-day Adventism may be dangerous to your spiritual life. Here are 7 points that you should seriously consider before joining this religion or while contemplating whether or not to leave it:
When Adventists hold a crusade or evangelistic campaign, they generally attempt to hide who they are from the general public. Often they hold the meetings in a neutral public venue, such as a meeting hall, and they do not mention who they are or what church they are representing. Often, the evangelist will bill himself as an "interdenominational" figure--an "historian" or "prophecy expert" or "Bible history expert." What other religion does this?
When I was a young man I was actively involved in the evangelistic crusades of Adventist minister John Carter. Elder Carter loved to hold crusades, and he would rent out public halls and advertise himself as some type of a lecturer on archeology. He would never mention anything about Ellen White in his crusades, even though she was mentioned regularly in Sabbath School and church services at his church. He would never mention Adventism until near the end of the crusade. He even instructed us to give non-committal answers to attendees who asked us what church we represented. (For more recent examples of evangelistic deception, click here)
That was 20 years ago. Are things different today? I got a book in the mail today (Dec. 11, 2007) entitled "The Path to Peace". It had no identification as to which religious organization published it. I immediately suspected it was an Adventist publication. Inside I found advertisements for "Discovery Bible Studies" and "Keys to Happiness Studies" but the words "Adventist", "SDA", or "Seventh-day" did not appear anywhere in the book. On a tiny footnote on the bottom of the first page, in text so small it was barely legible, I found the words "Text by E.G. White". Even if someone managed to read the fine print, it is still obscure--we don't know if it was Edward White, or Earl White, or Ellen White! Why don't they just put it on the cover of the book "Written by Ellen G. White, Prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist Church"? There is only one reason: they know that some people have an awareness of the SDA Church. So, the makers of the book attempt to cleverly disguise it in order to deceive and perhaps ensnare those who might otherwise reject the book without reading it.
This is not a recent development. In 1932 the complaint appeared in an SDA book, Answers to Objections:
"When Seventh-day Adventist ministers go into a community to hold a series of lectures, they conceal, at first, their denominational connection. They thus hope to draw into the audience people who would never have come if they knew that Seventh-day Adventists were conducting the meetings. This is a form of deception. There is something the matter with a religious body that is afraid to identify itself as soon as it begins to carry on any activity in a community."1
One thing I have frequently observed among Adventists is the philosophy that the "ends justifies the means" when it comes to using deception. The reasoning is this: If we tell them up front we are Adventists, they will not come to our meetings or read our books. Therefore, we will use deception to trick them into thinking we are generic Christians. Was this tactic ever used by Jesus or the Apostles? Did they ever pretend like they were not Christians so that they could get more people to come to their meetings? On Pentecost did Peter and John stand up and pretend like they were non-Christians in order to gain the people's confidence? Notice how this philosophy of secretiveness and disguise is contrary to the openness and transparency of the Apostles:
But we have turned away from secret and shameful ways. We use no trickery, and we do not change the teaching of God. We teach the truth plainly showing everyone who we are. ... (2 Cor. 4:2 NLT)The Seventh-day Adventist hierarchy has a long history of practicing deception. In the early 1850s, church co-founder James White removed portions of Ellen White's visions and republished them. The portions removed contained teachings that Adventist leaders decided were no longer "truth". People who read the "revised" versions of the visions had no idea that what they were reading had been altered, and key damaging passages had been removed.
Behind closed doors, such as at the 1919 Bible Conference, church leaders expressed personal doubts about Ellen White, but publicly the church continues to make positive statements regarding her inspiration. I have personally talked to SDA evangelists and professors who privately expressed grave doubts about Ellen White, but publicly quoted her and acted as though they actually believed her to be the "spirit of prophecy". College president W.W. Prescott complained in a letter:
"...we let them go on year after year asserting things which we know to be untrue. I cannot feel that this is right. It seems to me that we are betraying our trust and deceiving the ministers and people. It appears to me that there is much more anxiety to prevent a possible shock to some trustful people than to correct error. ... The way your mother's [Ellen White's] writings have been handled and the false impressions concerning them, which is still fostered among the people, have brought great perplexity and trial to me. It seems to me that what amounts to deception, though probably not intentional, has been practiced in making some of her books, and that no serious effort has been made to disabuse the minds of the people of what was known to be their wrong view concerning her writings."2When Walter Rea discovered the extent of Mrs. White's plagiarism and brought it to the attention of church leaders, instead of facing up to the problem and working with him to expose it, they turned against Elder Rea, fired him, and tried to counteract his findings (Click to read "Who Lied - Them or Me?").
It is now becoming well known that the church's prophet, Ellen White, practiced deception:
Some unknown soul described it this way:
"We walked into the New Jerusalem and soon we noticed a small area that had large, thick walls surrounding it. We asked our angel who was in that section. The angel replied, 'Shhhh...the Seventh-day Adventists are in there. They think they are the only ones in the city.'"Adventism is a very exclusive religion. They see themselves as the "remnant", the one and only group of Christians who have remained loyal to God, His Fourth Commandment, and His prophet Ellen White. Adventists have the "truth" and all other Christian Churches are "apostate" and under "strong delusion".
When I was growing up, I was advised not to associate with people of other religions because I should not be around their contaminating influence. Later in life, after I left the Adventist Church, all my Adventist friends distanced themselves from me to the point where we rarely talked.
Adventists tend to congregate together in "Adventist ghettos". A good example of such is Keene, Texas, a city whose businesses close on Saturday, and whose supermarket carries a wide variety of vege-meats. Adventists tend to associate with one another and do business with each other. Adventist babies are born in Adventist hospitals. Adventist children are sent to Adventist schools to learn with other Adventist children. They eventually graduate and go to work for Adventist institutions where their co-workers are Adventist. Eventually they retire and go to live in Adventist retirement centers. Finally, they die and are buried in Adventist cemeteries so they can be resurrected with other Adventists!
Why is that? Adventists are taught that Sunday-keepers are "Babylon" or the "daughters of Babylon". They are taught that Sunday-keepers are going to receive the Mark of the Beast, and that the Sabbath is the great separating wall between God's true remnant people and the deceived, lost world.
Perhaps Ellen White stated it best when she said:
"...Satan has taken full possession of the [non-Adventist] Churches" and even their prayers are an "abomination" to God.3What a scary thought! Who would want to be infected with "poisonous miasma" by associating with the "lost"? After all, it might damage my "character perfection" if I were to associate with non-Adventists!"Let those who would be the children of God take heed to the command, 'Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.' Association with worldly-minded men and women dims the spiritual perception; for it is in direct disobedience to the plain injunctions of the word of God. In worldly society an earthly influence is at work, an atmosphere of poisonous miasma is there which is disastrous to personal piety."4
When you start withdrawing from people because you view them as "lost" or "apostates", that is a dangerous sign. This "holier-than-thou" attitude is the earmark of pharisiacal hypocrisy and is the antithesis of Christ's attitude toward others. Christ was known as a friend of sinners.
The entire philosophy of Adventist teachings regarding end-time prophecy is that the wicked are going to join forces to persecute Seventh-day Adventists. Catholicism is supposedly going to join hands with apostate Protestantism and Spiritualism, and this three-fold union is going to pass laws restricting the liberty of Adventists to worship on Saturday. Eventually, a death penalty will be passed for all who do not honor Sunday.
This frightening end-time scenario has no basis in the Bible or in fact, but it is taught to children and new converts as if it were "gospel truth." As a result, Adventists operate in a constant state of mistrust and suspicion of other religions. Any positive statement made by a Sunday-keeping church leader regarding worship on Sunday is regarded as a "sign" of the end.
This delusional end-time scenario is referred to as the National Sunday Law. I remember vividly when SDA minister Jan Marcussen, author of a book on the subject, came to our church with a pile of newspaper clippings purporting to show the imminence of a national Sunday law. He solemnly held up his hand and declared to the congregation that it would happen so soon that a child could count the number of months. That was 17 years ago. Over 200 months, and still counting. I have now been a Christian for over 40 years, and have met thousands of people from a multitude of denominations. To this day, I have yet to meet a single person who is even the least bit interested in persecuting Seventh-day Adventists for not honoring Sunday.
The primary danger of this delusional end-time scenario is that it will cause Adventists to mis-read the true signs of the end. It dupes Adventists into thinking that certain events must transpire prior to the return of Christ. For example, an Adventist would expect Sunday laws to be passed prior to Christ's return. Therefore, an Adventist may delay getting his heart ready for the return of Christ because he thinks he has plenty of time to make that decision because there are not yet any signs of imminent Sunday laws. Secondly, it feeds the "exclusive" mindset discussed above by creating an "us" versus "them" scenario. Finally, this impending conflict generates feelings of stress, and perhaps fear, in some people. The purpose and intent of Christianity is not to coerce people to join a religion out of fear. It is to share love, joy, and peace with people.
There is an emphasis in Adventism on character perfection. While not all of Ellen White's writings stress perfection, at times she made very strong statements regarding perfection:
"Those only who through faith in Christ obey all of God's commandments will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression."Ellen White's teachings about perfectionism and the importance of our own "dilligent efforts" are contrary to Scripture:"Everyone who surrenders fully to God is given the privilege of living without sin."
"We need not retain one sinful propensity."
"Christ died to make it possible for you to cease to sin."
"To be redeemed means to cease from sin."
"...Those who are living on the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil..."5
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. (Isa. 53:6)Perfectionism is a one-way road to spiritual derailment. Either a person will realize he is failing miserably in his attainment of perfection and give up his faith in utter despair, or else he will delude himself into thinking he is spiritually better than others and develop a hypocritical attitude.All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one. (Rom. 3:12 NLT)
Adventists place a lot of emphasis on obeying the Ten Commandments, particularly the fourth commandment. Their whole end-time eschatology is built upon a great, cosmic conflict that is being played out before the entire universe, and the battle lines have been drawn over the Sabbath Commandment. The conflict over the Sabbath is the final conflict between good and evil, and it is the separating wall that divides "loyal" Christians from "disloyal" Christians. With all this emphasis being placed upon the law, it is no wonder that Adventists have a tendency to get bogged down in legalism.
Mrs. White adds to the problem with some of her legalistic statements such as these:
"...The terms of salvation for every son and daughter of Adam are here outlined. It is plainly stated that the condition of gaining eternal life is obedience to the commandments of God".Scripture teaches that our "dilligent efforts" have no part in earning God's favor or His reconciliation:"To obey the commandments of God is the only way to obtain His favor."
"He [man] must be reconciled to God through obedience to His law."6
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. ...for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal. 2:16,21)There is a danger in any religious philosophy that depends in any degree, even one percent, on the dilligent efforts of the believer to obtain or earn their salvation.For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2:8,9)
The Adventist religion adds a whole host of rules and regulations that make life tedious and burdensome. I remember as a child being told it was okay to wade in the water on hot Sabbath afternoons, but I could not swim. Most of the rules followed by Adventists come from the pen of Ellen White. Here are a few of them:7
The danger in adding a multitude of needless restrictions to a religion is that it makes religion seem tiring and burdensome, especially for the youth. This over-bearing and overly restrictive environment drives the youth out of the church, which is perhaps one of the reasons that it has been reported that 70% of Seventh-day Adventist youth leave the church.
Because of the exclusive nature of the SDA Church, and because they are the faithful and true "remnant", when one leaves the church, they are leaving the "truth" and choosing to be "apostates". When I left the SDA Church in 1998, I was met with all sorts of comments, such as I was "lost", an "apostate", following "Satan", an "enemy of the truth", and so forth. This is unique to cultic religions. When a person changes from the Methodist Church to the Baptist Church, he is not derided as "lost" or a "heretic". However, when a person leaves the SDA Church for the Baptist Church, it is a whole different story. He is going "back to Babylon" or returning to "Apostate Protestantism".
If someone dares to question the authority of Ellen White, they are told they are fulfilling Ellen White's prophecy that in the last days some Adventists would be part of the final deception of Satan, which is to destroy confidence in the "spirit of prophecy." This puts a lot of pressure on a person, because after all, who wants to be a part of Satan's final deception?
Leaving the SDA Church is often a very difficult proposition for an SDA because it could easily involve the loss of friends, loved ones, and perhaps even family. In some cases it could mean the loss of a job or career with an Adventist institution. When an Adventist is contemplating leaving the church, he may be pressured by other Adventists to "stay in the fold" and keep his objections to himself.
When I told one SDA professor of my findings regarding how Ellen White failed the Biblical tests of a prophet, that man recommended I stay quiet and "do not rock the boat." In other words, I was being pressured to live a double-life, pretending on the surface that I agreed with what the SDA Church taught, while keeping my real feelings to myself.
It is spiritually unhealthy to be put in the position of having to pretend to be something you are not in order to hold onto your job, your family, or your friends.
The attributes and tactics of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that we discussed above are not the ways or methods of Christ. Before you join the SDA Church, please think long and hard about the ramifications that decision may have upon your long-term spiritual health.
If you are already a member of the SDA Church, you need to consider if this is truly God's highest will for your life. Over the last 10 years I have often had people ask me, Should I leave the SDA Church? The answer is not simple, but let me share with you four cases where you should stay in the SDA Church:
God bless you,
Brother Anderson
NOTES
1. F. D. Nichol, Answers to Objections (1932, 1954).
2. W.W. Prescott letter to W.C. White, April 6, 1915.
3. Ellen White, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, p.190.
4. Ellen White, The Review and Herald, November 27, 1894, paragraph 4, Article Title: Be Separate.
5. Ellen White, SDA Commentary, Vol. VI, p. 1118. Review and Herald, Sept. 27, 1906. SDA Commentary, Vol. V, p.1128; ibid, Vol 7, p. 943. Review and Herald, Aug. 28, 1894. Review and Herald, Sept. 25, 1900. The Great Controversy, p. 425.
6. Ellen White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Oct. 26, 1897. Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 28; 294-295.
7. http://www.nonsda.org/egw/egw30.sthml.
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