Seventh Day
Adventist
The last of the cults we will study, the Seventh Day Adventist, is the
third major cult found in the USA. It, too, is rightly defined as a cult having:
1.
A
system or community of religious worship and ritual
2.
A
religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or bogus
3.
Obsessive
devotion or veneration for a person, principle, or ideal, especially when
regarded as a fad.' taken from The American Heritage Dictionary.
These definitions accurately describe the Seventh Day Adventists, for
their religious system of worship is bogus and their obsessive devotion to a
person is obvious! William Miller is their founder and the person to whom they
still show obsessive devotion although the teachings of Mrs. Ellen G. White are
most prominent in their system of beliefs.
He, William Miller, proclaimed dogmatically that Christ would return in
1844 basing his prediction on a year-day interpretation of Daniel 8:14. He was
thoroughly embarrassed when his prophecy did not come about, but in order to
cover his error, Mrs. Ellen G. White, one of his diligent devotees, conceived
the idea that Christ did return in 1844 and entered upon a second phase of His
redemptive work, a work of 'investigative judgment'.
In one of Mrs. White's visions she is supposed to have seen Christ
carrying on this work of investigative judgment and pointing to the fourth
commandment, the keeping of the Sabbath. At this point the cult was born, and
they gave themselves the name 'Seventh Day Adventists'. Their erroneous
doctrine concerning the Sabbath says that the Pope, who is the Antichrist,
changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and all who keep Sunday bear the
mark of the Beast and will go to hell for violating God's Sabbath day (See 'The
Great Controversy' pp. 510-513).
They claim that Saturday, the seventh day, was instituted by God Himself
from the very dawn of creation, claiming that the institution of the Sabbath
was never changed! However, the Bible teaches that the Sabbath was made known
to Israel (Exodus 16:23ff) and made a commandment at the giving of the Law
(Exodus 20:9-11; Deuteronomy 5:15; Nehemiah 9:13, 14). But, after the Lord Jesus arose from the dead
on the first day of the week the church discontinued keeping the Sabbath and
instead met on Sunday, 'The first day of
the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto
them...' (Acts 20:7)
Also was when the churches gathered to give as taught by the Apostle
Paul: 'Upon the first day of the week let
every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him...' (I
Corinthians 16:2). Therefore, the New Testament firmly establishes that
Sunday, the first day of the week was when the church gathered to meet from its
very beginning. The Sabbath was a sign between God and the Jews (Ezekiel
20:10-12) and was never given to the Gentiles or to the Church. The Lord's Day,
Sunday, the first day of the week, commemorates the victorious resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ (Psalm 118:22-24; Luke 24:1-3, 33-36).
Each day, the Sabbath and Sunday or the Lord's Day belong to a different
age, the Sabbath was in force from Moses until the Law was done away in Christ
(Romans 7:6, 10:4). Jesus came to fulfill the Law and He did, no one can deny
that fact! (Matthew 5:17). The cessation of the Sabbath was predicted in Hosea
2:11 and the Lord's Day [The day Jesus rose from the dead] began in Apostolic
times and will continue to be observed on Sunday, as stated above, the first
day of the week (Acts 20:7, I Corinthians 16:2) until the Lord returns.
Therefore the Sabbath doctrine the Adventists teach is completely erroneous and
was never taught in the New Testament.
Concerning salvation they teach that the keeping of the Law is necessary
as evidence of salvation. Anyone who fails to observe the Sabbath on Saturday
is lost. When Christ returns only 144,000 will be saved and these will be
Adventists who do not have the mark of the Beast upon them. Faith in Christ can
only obtain remission for sins that are past but the Law of God is the standard
by which the character and the lives of men will be tested in the judgment (See
'The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan' pp. 533-534).
They also teach that there are three phases to Christ's work of
redemption. The Cross was only the first stage, the second stage began in 1844
when Christ entered into the sanctuary to begin His work of 'investigative
judgment'. The third stage is when our sins are laid upon the scapegoat Satan
on the Day of Atonement. To this conglomeration of un-Biblical heresies we
reply with the Bible teaching of salvation:
'For
by grace are ye save through faith, it is the gift of God not of works lest any
man should boast' (Ephesians 2:8,9).
There can be no mix of human works with Bible salvation for it is all of
grace by faith! Faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
Cross is where Bible salvation is rooted! We believe that Christ suffered and
died, rose again for our justification and is now seated on the Right Hand of
God!
There are no 'phases' of salvation
taught in the Bible, to the contrary the Lord Jesus Himself that salvation
occurs by a Spiritual birth which takes place at the time we receive Him by
faith, repenting of our sin, and thereby we are born again, born from above
Spiritually in an instant, a specific event in time just as we are born
physically! (John 3:3-7) We thereby become children of God by birth, a
spiritual birth by the Holy Spirit!
They also teach that immortality is conditional. By this they mean that
only some souls will be immortal, only those who are in possession of eternal
life. Carlyle B. Haynes, in his book, 'Seventh Day Adventists--Their Work and
Teaching' p.19, says 'Man is mortal. And his only hope of living for ever is
dependent, therefore and conditional upon union with God through Christ our
Saviour, who has promised eternal life to all who believe in Him.' The rest,
they say, will be annihilated and will cease to exist.
Their reasoning is that since eternal life means eternal existence, then,
eternal death means eternal non-existence. They hold that the wicked, will be
destroyed by the fires of the last days and be finally reduced to a state of
non-existence, becoming as though they had not been born (p.72). To this
erroneous teaching we soundly proclaim the Bible doctrine of immortality.
Eternal life is more than just mere existence. I John 5:12 says: 'He that hath the Son hath life, and this
eternal life is in God's Son’
Life in the Bible refers to life in right
relationship to God and for this purpose Christ came, lived a sinless life and
died for our sins that we might have eternal life with God! Death is not the
cessation of life into non-existence for the Bible teaches that those who reject
Christ refusing to receive Him as their Saviour from the penalty of sin will
suffer the second-death which is eternal separation from God in the eternal
torment of the lake of fire which was originally prepared for the devil and his
angels (Revelation 20:10-15). For the wages of sin is death (eternal separation
from God the second death) (Romans 6:23).
Copied in part from
'The Art of Soul Winning' Murray W.
Downey
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