One of the most deceptive and hard to discern religious cults for new
believers is Seventh-day Adventism (SDA). In typical fashion, Satan's greatest
deceptions are those which appear closest to the truth. The best place to hide
a lie is between two truths. In recent decades, SDA's have painstakingly
repackaged (streamlined) their beliefs to align as close as possible with
Biblical Christianity. So if a person never delves deeper into the religion,
chances are slim that you'll ever see the satanic nature of their belief
system.
I've even found some Christian websites that errantly recognize SDA's as a Christian group. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989) in his excellent book, “The Kingdom Of The Cults,” grossly makes the error of concluding Seventh-day Adventists as “a Christian cult.” There's no such thing as “a Christian cult.” I am writing this brief article to steer you in the right direction if you seek to know the truth. I will tell you what to research and where SDA's go astray from Biblical Christianity. I love you in the Lord, whoever you may be, including Seventh-day Adventists, and I simply want to help you find the truth of God's Word.
Seventh-day Adventism is a unique false religion, in that they began in the year 1844. A wayward Baptist preacher named William Miller (1782-1849) made an unbiblical prediction that Jesus would return in 1842. Over 10,000 followers of Pastor Miller gave away all their earthly possessions, quit their jobs, and like Charlie Brown waiting for The Great Pumpkin on Halloween, were disappointed when he didn't show up. Jesus didn't come back! To save face, the Millerites began a new religion called Seventh-day Adventism, which to this day cannot escape the reality that SDA is rooted in a major false prophesy and embarrassment.
Then it gets really bizarre, as SDA's crunches a bunch of numbers in history and wrestle the Bible to get the year 1844. Since SDA is based on a prophetic blunder, it makes sense why their religion majors on prophecy and the end times. Likewise, Mormonism majors on sexual teachings, because sex-perversion is at the very heart and core of their false religion's existence. If you remove the element of sex from their teachings, Mormonism no longer exists. Likewise, Pentecostal Charismatics center their entire religion around Speaking-in-Tongues. Likewise, Roman Catholicism is based solely upon the worship of Mary, which is why Catholic worship majors on Mary and minors on the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see how many mainstream religions are based upon an agenda, instead of the Word of God. Seventh-day Adventism (SDA) is a Sabbath Day worshipping religion. Biblically, there is no Sabbath Day today. Colossians 2:14-17 teaches that the Sabbath Day was ceremonial law, a shadow of things to come, and was nailed to the cross and done away with. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Sabbath Day. Jesus has become our Sabbath, in Whom we completely rest for salvation (Hebrews 4:10-11).
Again, since SDA is based upon a false prophesy by a minister named William Miller that never came to fruition, it makes sense why SDA's major on end time events and the books of Daniel and Revelation. It's all a mess! The internet is saturated with prophetic teachings from Seventh-day Adventist websites. Consequently, many people are being misled and utterly confused. Everything that SDA's teach is based upon the false premise that 1844 has some major Scriptural significance, which is does NOT. Biblically, nothing happens in the year 1844. Although SDA's and Jehovah's Witnesses are world's apart in their belief systems, both religious cults make the error of wrestling the Bible and history to set unbiblical prophetic DATES.
To make matters worse, SDA's use the King James Bible extensively (but not exclusively), so they appear to be Christians. They claim to believe in Christ's deity, although their founding prophetess Ellen G. White openly denied Christ's deity (that Jesus is almighty God) in her writings. Something is VERY wrong about that. Why would SDA's today revere and uplift Ellen G. White as a great prophetess from God, if she blatantly denied Christ's deity as God??? You need to understand that Ellen G. White is more to SDA's than a mere godly women in their view; but moreover, she is the kingpin of their entire religion. Something is very odd, unbiblical and creepy about a religion that exalts a heretic's writings almost to the point of the Holy Bible. If you'd like to learn more about the truth of Seventh-day Adventism, please research who Ellen G. White was and her role in SDA today. If you have an SDA radio station near you, you'll hear constant readings from her writings by SDA's. This is a reprobate woman who vehemently rejected Christ as God.
Please notice the three warnings in our text Scripture from 2nd Corinthians 11:3-4 against: 1) ANOTHER JESUS; 2) ANOTHER SPIRIT and; 3) ANOTHER GOSPEL. SDA's violate all three of these! Despite the deceitful claim by Adventists today that they believe in Christ's deity, something is very wrong when they continually idolize a woman (Ellen White) who denied Christ's deity. That would be like Baptists today revering and promoting the writings of an atheist like Karl Marx. Effectively, Ellen White was an atheist because she denied the deity of Jesus Christ. No one who denies Christ as God is saved. Jesus is God the Son. Then there's also God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. One God, but He exists in three persons. 1st John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
John 8:45 “And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” —Jesus Christ
Seventh-day
Adventists deny the reality and existence
of a literal burning Hell. Instead, like Jehovah's Witnesses teach, SDA's
believe in annihilation for the wicked. This is totally unbiblical.
You need to know about the SDA heresy on Hell.
Clearly, SDA is very different than Biblical Christianity.
SDA's Teach Lordship Salvation
If you'll search online amongst SDA websites for “How To Be Saved,” you'll get Lordship Salvation basically. Here's an SDA official website, where they invite the reader to receive the free gift of eternal life, but then add a stipulation that works are necessary to be saved. Notice carefully that the SDA author of the following article speaks of God saving a person in future terms. This is because SDA's believe Christ entered into the heavenly Holy Place in 1844 to begin his work of “Investigative Judgment” ( a bizarre heresy exclusive to SDA). No other religious group teaches this bizarre doctrine, which is a big warning flag also.
Here's what SDA's teach concerning salvation...
Nor do we have the right to say for sure whom God will save. Given the kinds of people Jesus brushed shoulders with (thieves, the demon-possessed and prostitutes), it's a safe bet that there will be people in heaven that you and I wouldn't have selected to go there. ... God does want us to be good. Determinedly wicked people aren't trusting in Jesus, or they wouldn't do the things they do.
SOURCE: Seventh-day Adventist Church: How To Know You're Saved
The preceding statement is a lie. To say that people who intentionally commit wickedness are not saved is unbiblical. Samson deliberately went with harlots. David deliberately commit adultery with Bath-Sheba and murdered her husband. Jonah deliberately ran from God's will. Ananias and Sapphira deliberately lied and stole from God. Demas forsook Paul in the ministry, loving this present world. Peter deliberately took his clothes off, denied knowing Christ and quit the ministry, et cetera. The Bible is filled with shameful believers who did horrible things as Christians. All Christians sin.
The problem is that when you require a change of life as validation, confirmation or legitimization of one's faith in Christ, you've changed the plan of salvation. How can eternal life truly be a “free gift” (Romans 5:15; 6:23) if your behavior must change as part of being saved? It cannot! On the same website as the previous quote, SDA's teach that salvation can be lost, and that to remain saved, a person must continually choose to “STAY CLOSE TO GOD” ...
People can "fall away" from God through choice, pressure, carelessness or inattention. Though God draws us to Himself and will do everything He can to keep us close to Him, He won't force us to stay. But those who do stay close to God live happier, more confident lives than those who don't.
SOURCE: Seventh-day Adventist Church: How To Know You're Saved
Notice the heresy in the preceding quote. SDA's teach that those who stay closer to God can live more confident lives than those who don't. Clearly, SDA's do not view salvation as a new birth that cannot be reversed. Rather, their heresy on Investigative Judgment teaches that since 1844, Christ is in the heavenly Holy Place deciding who is “worthy” or not to enter into Heaven. So if you stay close to God throughout your life, you have much better odds of being found worthy than if you don't stay close to God. Ladies and gentleman, this is an entirely satanic false plan of salvation that cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God. John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” —Apostle Paul
Biblically, you must be born-again to be saved. Notice that the SDA website titled, “How To Be Saved,” never mentions the Gospel. What is the Gospel? The Bible tells us:
1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
There you have it... Christ DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED and He RESURRECTED the third day. If you see yourself as a guilty sinner in God's holy eyes (Romans 3:19), and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15), you will be immediately and forever saved (Romans 10:13).
Clearly, the Bible teaches something very different than what SDA's teach. You don't get to Heaven by receiving God's free gift and then staying close to God in holy living, increasing your odds that God will save you. That's the same theological garbage that Billy Graham, John MacArthur, Paul Washer and other heretics are teaching, infiltrating and defiling evangelical churches. The Bible teaches that we are saved by God's righteousness, not our own (Romans 10:3-4). Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” In theological language, and mentioned in Romans 4:5-6 of the precious King James Bible, it is called IMPUTATION. We are saved by the imputed righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:21), because we have no righteousness of our own to offer God (Isaiah 64:6).
Hence, once you are saved, you can NEVER lose your salvation. When you hear someone saying that they “used to be a Christian,” what they are really saying is that they once ascribed to the philosophy of Christianity or joined a Christian organization, but they were never truly BORN-AGAIN!!! Christianity began as a new birth by faith in Christ Jesus. When it went to Greece, Christianity became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it spread throughout Europe, it became a culture. And when it came to America, Christianity became a business!
My friend, Seventh-day Adventism may look, smell and taste like Christianity, but it is a worm-filled apple, rotten to the core. The exclusive doctrine of Investigative Judgment, which teaches that Christ entered into the heavenly Holy Place in the year 1844 is bizarre, completely foreign to Biblical Christianity. Of course, as you can imagine, SDA's reject all other religions, claiming that only they are the full remaining faithful. SDA's worship on Saturday, their self-made Sabbath. They're businesses are often open on Sundays, totally disregarding the Lord's Day on Sunday as being part of the world's antichrist system. Baptist pastors are viewed as being antichrists by SDA's. They won't tell you any of this upfront.
As I have briefly shared with you, SDA's have a completely different, far out, bizarre, strange, belief system. The Bible calls this “strange doctrines.” Hebrews 13:9, “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” Doctrinally, we ought to stick to the fundamentals of the Christian faith. The SDA doctrine of Investigative Judgment is certainly a STRANGE DOCTRINE. There is absolutely no way to reconcile Seventh-day Adventism with Biblical Christianity. They are diametrically opposed to each other. Also, there are strong occult connections between Ellen G. White and Freemasonry, as is true of most mainstream religious cults. SDA is a part of the Devil's New World Order deception. Satan's purpose is to BLIND people, so that they will rest at ease in a false security, and go straight to Hell when they die, when they thought they were going to Heaven. This is why Jesus said in Luke 13:23-34, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
Please understand
that Seventh-day Adventism is a business, an organized religion, not Biblical
Christianity. Satan is a master con-artist, a deceiver, whom the Bible warns
appears as an angel of light (2nd Corinthians 11:13-15). Literally, the Devil
and his sinister ministers are actors, pretending to be of God, but they are
satanic. We are all in a spiritual war. SDA does its best to appear as a
Christian organization, but it is a woeful deception of the Devil.
Reprobate Ellen G. White's False Understanding Of Repentance
False prophetess Ellen G. White (1827-1915) wrote numerous books, including “Steps To Christ,” in which she teaches the heresy of Lordship Salvation...
How shall a man be just with God? How shall the sinner be made righteous? It is only through Christ that we can be brought into harmony with God, with holiness; but how are we to come to Christ? Many are asking the same question as did the multitude on the Day of Pentecost, when, convicted of sin, they cried out, "What shall we do?" The first word of Peter's answer was, "Repent." Acts 2:37, 38. At another time, shortly after, he said, "Repent, . . . and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Acts 3:19. Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Ellen G. White, Steps To Christ, chapter 3, Repentance, p.23.
As you've just read for yourself, SDA's view repentance as sorrow for sin, and turning away from sinful behavior, and a change of life, all perceived as a requirement to be saved. This is totally unbiblical. The Holy Bible teaches that we are saved by GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is imputed to the believer solely BY FAITH. Romans 4:5-6, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” A man's faith in the Gospel (Good News) of Christ's death on the cross, burial, and bodily resurrection is counted for righteousness (which means that you don't need any self-righteousness to be saved, and a good thing, because we have none to offer). Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” God DOESN'T expect anyone to turn away from sinful behavior as a prerequisite to believing the Gospel to be saved.
It is tragic that more than 50% of our Baptist churches today are teaching the exact same damnable heresy as the Seventh-day Adventists. Does your pastor teach the same garbage as Ellen G. White? He does if he teaches Lordship Salvation. The truth is that turning away from sinful behavior is a matter of Discipleship, which is entirely separate from the decision to receive Christ to be saved. Salvation is the first decision that God wants every person to make, to acknowledge one's guilt of sin and believe the Gospel to be saved. Then there's a second decision, once you've been saved, that God wants every believer to make, and that is to follow Christ in obedience as His disciple. Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you everything.
Miss White taught that there will be no real change of life until a person feels sorrow for sins, and turns away from sin in their heart. This is manmade religion, not the new birth that is in Christ. In Christianity, you realize that you are a guilty sinner under the condemnation of God's holy law, and you turn to Christ by faith, believing the Gospel to be saved. And then, AFTER you are saved, now in Christ, being indwelt by God's Holy Spirit, the Lord can begin to work in your heart to change your life. 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” So you see, in man's reprobate false plan of salvation, the changes must come first before salvation; whereas in genuine Christianity, being born-again, the changes come after a person is in the Lord. And that change is the presence of the Spirit of Christ which indwells every believer (Romans 8:9); for we are the temple of God's Holy Spirit (1st Corinthians 3:16-17). The unsaved person is the house of Satan (John 8:44), nor can they understand the things of God (1st Corinthians 2:14).
Eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-10). A gift need only be received. To genuinely be a free gift—salvation cannot require anybody to clean up their act, turn over a new leaf, commit their life to God, surrender their will to follow Christ, confess Christ publicly, join a church, forsake the world, cease from sinful bad habits, get water baptized, keep the Sabbath, nor do good works—for all these are HUMAN EFFORT!!! It is tragic how Satan has blurred the lines of theological doctrine between the churches and the satanic cults. Consequently, many of our once evangelical churches have succumbed to satanic error are are no longer New Testament churches, because they are teaching a false plan of salvation. Lordship Salvation is NOT salvation!!!
Heresy is creeping into the churches by the hour. The “simplicity that is in Christ” is that a person who realizes that they are a sinner can be saved by simply BELIEVING the Gospel.
