Adventism is a movement that originated in the United States of America in the Nineteenth Century and came out of a group known as the Millerites. The Millerites were founded and led by William Miller, a Baptist Pastor who stated in 1833 that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in 1843 to 1844. This prediction came in a period known in Christianity as the Second Great Awakening and culminated in an event that was known as the Great Disappointment.
After the Great Disappointment where Jesus Christ did not return on the predicted dates William Miller was discredited as a preacher and died in 1849 a broken man. After the Great Disappointment Hiram Edson, James White and Ellen White became influential in the early development of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Ellen White wasn’t an official leader but the Seventh Day Adventist Movement followed the plan she laid out for it. After William Miller passed, Hiram Edson claimed to have had a vision of Jesus moving into the Inner Sanctuary in Heaven. This they said confirmed Miller’s interpretation of Daniel 8. He had simply been mistaken as to what the event was that had taken place. Rather than the Second Coming, Jesus had moved into the Inner Sanctuary of the Temple in Heaven.
Ellen White’s husband James White became leader of the Church and White herself became chief prophetess. She was prolific writer and proceeded to put her prophecies into print along with other commentaries. She was capable of adopting other peoples work that she agreed with and publishing it in her own name. Not, I’m sure you will agree the most ethical approach for a Christian prophetess whose main focus was on purity and sanctification.
She was, though, an astute leader and she caused the movement to adopt some very worthy causes. She guided them into medicine, education and missionary work on a national basis in the United States and, in the early twentieth century, at an international level.
Now let me point out that the work that this movement has done is sterling work. In the main they are good people who genuinely care for others and are determined to bring the gospel to the lost and to leave them better in every way than they found them.
Today they are a flourishing movement of twenty plus million people. They have built Churches, hospitals and schools in scores of countries. They promote healthy living and nutrition. They have a relevant and current television ministry with which they are a huge help to Christians of every denomination. Their ministry is largely sound, serious and by comparison to much of the luke warm nonsense that passes for preaching in much of the West today. They are very much to be admired.
But, they are a Christian hybrid and although they preach from the word of God they preach with equal authority from the writings and prophecies of Ellen White. She is effectively accorded the status of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church and in my opinion is made a Goddess.
The Seventh Day Adventists have a series of doctrines around sanctification that if understood beggars belief. They interpret Daniel 8:14 “... And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” to mean two thousand three hundred years from the time that the work began on the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple restoration began. This time expired in 1798 when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Vatican and this interpretation led to William Millars errors. Which in turn lead to Edson’s nonsense about the our Lord moving into the Inner Sanctuary in Heaven. To which was added more error in their doctrine of the Investigative Judgment in which the Lord is at this moment checking our lives against the records to see if we are righteous enough to be saved.
Integral in the Adventist doctrine of Sanctification is the teaching that adventist believers should pray at least two times a day as the prophet Daniel did. This is by no means a bad idea but I can’t help feeling it again comes back to obeying the law and sanctifying ones self before God. Integral to this teaching is the understanding that Daniel prayed facing Jerusalem. Now adventists believe that he did this because Solomon had prayed for the sanctification of the temple before the daily sacrifice was in place. God accepted his prayer and when Daniel was praying the daily sacrifice was not in effect. So he worked on the assumption that if Jehovah listened to Solomon’s prayers he would listen to Daniel’s. It seems it is important that we have all our ducks in a row because we don’t have a complete redemption.
Then there is keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath which I tend to agree with but with the Adventists there is more to it. They sell it on the basis that it is laid down as the Fourth Commandment and nothing has changed except that the Catholic Church took it on itself to change the day to the day of the Sun and the day Christ rose from the dead on. But... They also say that it is God’s seal and that it signifies those who are his. This means that we who don’t keep the Seventh Day Sabbath aren’t his.
Another little gem is based on the scripture of the scapegoat from Leviticus 16:10 “But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, [and] to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” The Adventist Church believe that God has made Satan the scapegoat for the sins of mankind. That Satan rather than Jesus bares our sin..?
Of course, then there is the doctrine of Soul Sleep. As the Adventists point out most references to death in the Old Testament speak of descending into Sheol and lean toward the dead being asleep. However, there are a various Old Testament scriptures that point toward the believer having a spirit or ghost and being gathered to his people and not just falling asleep. In Genesis 15:15 God said to Abraham "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age...” and in Genesis 25:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. So even in the Old Testament there is reason to believe that the believer has a spirit which returns to the Lord.
In the New Testament, of course, Jesus brought light to the issue with his recount of The Rich Man and Lazarus in Matthew in Luke 16: 19-31 19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” The Adventists discount this as being merely a parable but in reality it reads as a recount of an actual event that really happened. Particularly what Abraham had to say. For Jesus to have made this up would have been bordering on falsehood and is, therefore, plainly ridiculous to even entertain.
Once again Soul Sleep is actually a very important doctrine to the Adventists because the believer cannot enter into the presence of God because they believe that Jesus work of redemption was not completed at Calvary and is even now being worked out. So believers have to sleep because there is no where else for them to go. You see there is an elephant in the room in all of this. What it comes down to is that they don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the only begotten Son of God, completed the work of redemption on the cross. They possibly believe he is Michael the Arch Angel as do there other adventist cousins the Jehovah’s Witness. I know for a fact they have a problem denying it.
There is also the continued use of New World Order Occultic Symbols in the branding of many of their organisations. It is written, Amazing Discoveries, Hope Channel and Firstlight Channel are but a few of the Seventh Day Adventist brands that carry these devilish icons. One can only wonder what a Christian Church is doing employing occult methodology. These signs are often seen behind presenters on Adventist television programs.
So are they Christian or are they a hybrid church in exactly, the same way as the Roman Catholic Church is a hybrid of the Christian religion and the pagan religions of ancient Rome. This is a real head spinner for me because the organisation seems so genuine in it’s aspirations and all of the Adventist folk that I know a genuine caring souls. The salt of the earth in fact.
However, taken as whole. All of the false teachings add up to a statement that Jesus of Nazareth is still working out our salvation. Whereas in actual fact he alone bore our sins on the cross. The Son of Man, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, God who is with us and our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He made propitiation for us all that we might have eternal life and cried “It is done.” There was an earthquake, the temple veil was torn in half, many saints rose from the dead and Christ Jesus won the battle for mankind. Once and for all.
Just like Roman Catholicism, Adventism is a hybrid religion with their own false goddess and false teachings. So all one can say to the many fine and genuine Christian folk in that movement is dispense with Ellen White and her false teachings. Then start anew with all of their passion and Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and the Holy Bible alone as their one source of divine inspiration. May God Bless them with the strength of faith to do just that.
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