Seventh-day Adventists won’t tell you they are behind the “Revelation Seminars” they sponsor. They act all” interdenominational” if questioned. Watch out for these SDA outreaches as well: Voice of Prophecy, Faith for Today, It is Written, The Quiet Hour, Amazing Facts etc. They also hide behind Health oriented shows on the networks, and sponsor stop-smoking clinics etc, all as introductions to Seventh-day Adventism.
Often, the only tip-off that what you are reading originates with them is that it is published by “Pacific Press”. They produce bright and colorful Children’s books, often seen in medical and dental offices, and of course, unsuspecting Church libraries.
They very much want to be perceived as Evangelical Christians, seeking a place on the ministerial fellowships. All this is good PR for them, but what do they really believe?
What facts won’t they tell you?
They won’t tell you that they consider themselves to be the only, true, remnant Church. Their prophetess, Ellen G. White, whom they revere and believe without question has told them that
“…Satan has taken full possession of the Churches”. (Spiritual Gifts V.l, p.189-90) They also believe our prayers are an “abomination” to God. (Spiritual Gifts, V1 p. 190).
That is what they think of you and your church, even if they won’t say it out loud in public, or to your face.
They revere their founding prophetess, Ellen G. White, and made this statement in their “Ministry” Magazineof Oct. 1981 and have never retracted it:
“We believe the revelation and inspiration of both the Bible and Ellen White’s writings to be of equal quality. The superintendence of the Holy Spirit was just as careful and thorough in one case as in the other”.
They won’t tell you too much about Ellen G. White at their public seminars, but their goal is to bring the person attending to the point of conversion and baptism.
Their baptismal certificate poses questions to which the candidate must answer “yes”. Question 8 says,
“Do you accept the biblical teaching of spiritual gifts and believe that the gift of prophecy is one of the identifying marks of the remnant church”.
If the candidate says “yes” and is baptized, they soon learn that the “gift of prophecy” is Ellen G. White’s writings. Point 13 has them accepting that the SDA Church is the remnant church of Bible Prophecy. They have been baptized into an exclusive group, but they don’t know how exclusive it is, yet!
No doubt they will be urged to avail themselves of a “Clear Word Bible”. This publication of theirs has inserted the words and doctrines of Ellen G. White right into the Bible text, insuring that the person studying it will have the mind of Ellen G. White.
Slowly, but surely, the new SDA will come to believe these extra-biblical doctrines that set the SDA church apart from Evangelical Christianity.
Doctrine on Christ
Seventh-day Adventists, in the early days, denied the Trinity, but now they accept it. However, they have “leftovers” from this heresy. Ellen G. White wrote in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 761, “…He (Jesus) was revealed to them as the Angel of Jehovah, the Captain of the Lord’s Host, Michael the Archangel”.
False Prophecies You Won’t be Told About
Seventh-day Adventism grew despite endorsing a false date for Christ’s return.
Ellen G. White endorsed a false prophecy by William Miller that Christ would return, first in 1843 and then 1844. Miller repented when Christ didn’t show up on his date but Ellen didn’t want to be viewed as a false prophetess for endorsing him through her visions. The idea was concocted by one of her followers that the date was right, but the event was wrong. Ellen eagerly accepted this “out”, and this explanation was offered to explain away the false prophecy:
Christ didn’t come visibly to earth, but He, invisibly, in heaven, changed compartments from the Holy to the Most Holy in 1844 and began the work of “investigative judgment” that we have discussed previously.
Embarrassing false prophecies by EGW have been, altered, covered up, and locked up by the SDA’s. You won’t be told about them, but here are a couple.
One false prophecy done in the name of the Lord marks that one as a false prophet (See Deut. chapter 18).
Ellen G. White said people alive in 1856 would be translated at the 2nd coming of Jesus. (Testimonies, V1, p 131,132).
She said in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 1, p. 259, that the United States would be “…humbled into the dust” by England during the Civil War.
No wonder Jesus told us to “Beware of the false prophets”. Time is their enemy. These false prophecies will never be mentioned by the SDA’s.
Cult Links
You won’t be told at the SDA Seminars about the things they have in common with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons.
SDA’s share their early history with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. An early Adventist, N. H. Barbour co-published with Charles Taze Russell. They had a falling out over (what else?) dates for the end of the world! (1844 and 1874), and parted company.
Both, however, kept heretical doctrines to this day like Jesus being Michael the Archangel, the denial of Hell, and both still advocate soul sleep. Both invented invisible occurrences in heaven for their failed dates for Christ’s visible return, investigative judgment for the SDA’s and Christ’s invisible “presence” for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
There is Mormon link also for the SDA’s. It is a proven fact that Ellen G. White plagiarized most of her writings. The Church has been challenged by Walter Rea, author of the White Lie to prove that even 20% of her writings are original. They can’t. Their weak defense was that there were no copyright laws in Ellen’s day, so what she did was legal. You will never be told of her plagiarism by the SDA’s.
As Ellen was rising to prominence, Joseph Smith had just died. Her writings contain many phrases used by Joseph Smith. Mind you, he has also been accused of plagiarism. I have a thick file of similarities, but time does not permit details at this time, but it does illustrate just how far her “borrowing” went. You will definitely not be told of her similarities to Joseph Smith at the Seminars!
Assorted Silliness
Often, cult research is tedious and boring. I am grateful to EGW for being humorous, ridiculous, and just plain silly. Her writings bearing her name are 17 times as long as the Bible; plagiarized or not. Many of them have to do with her doctrines on health and food.
As an SDA you will be encouraged to become a vegetarian. Ellen indicated that your salvation could be dependent on giving up meat. No meat-eaters will be “translated” at Christ’s coming (Counsels on Diet and Foods p. 380). You won’t be told this scripture by SDA’s
“…he who is weak in faith eats vegetables only…” (Romans 14:2). (Fun to read to vegetarians).
She taught in Counsels on Diet on p. 390 (some editions) that
“…if we subsist largely upon the flesh of dead animals, we shall partake of their nature”.
Partake of their nature? This is against God’s creation laws of “kind”, and Impossible. Also conveniently forgotten is Paul view, “Eat anything that is sold in the meat market, without asking questions for conscience’ sake.” (1 Cor. 10:25). Obviously no vegetarians evident in the early church!
Most of EGW’s concerns over diet were in an effort to control what she considered to be an excessive sex drive in the male. She devoted endless pages to discussing “secret vice” (masturbation) and blamed the practice for a wide range of diseases. Here, in “Solemn Appeal” page 12 are a few of the diseases said to be caused by “secret vice”
“…dyspepsia, spinal complaint, headache, epilepsy, impaired eyesight, palpitation of the heart, pain in the side, bleeding at the lungs, spasms of the heart and lungs, diabetes, incontinence of urine, fluor albus or whites, inflammation of the urinary organs… rheumatism, affected perspiration, consumption, asthma, catarrah, polypus of the heart, affection of the bones, fevers, ..etc. etc.
The cure for secret vice was even more ridiculous. The perpetrator was to sit in a sitz bath at as low a temperature as possible. At the same time, he was to have a hot foot bath, while applying cold cloths to his forehead. He was also to wear an abdominal bandage or wet girdle at night “to good advantage”.
She concludes, “Cool bathing of the parts affected is also beneficial”.
Thanks to Ellen White’s influence, the Kellogg brothers were inspired to develop cold corn flakes, as hot porridge could “heat the blood” with undesirable results!
She also developed a “reform dress“on instructions from God, which was a bulky affair with pants under a long dress. She gave up on wearing hers finally, and so did the other women, after years of suffering discomfort.
Other assorted nonsense included Angels needing golden cards as gate passes to get in and out of heaven. (Early Writings p. 37-39),
She also “traveled” to other planets in her visions, and also claimed to have met Enoch. (EGW: The Early Years Vol.1 p. 114; p. 157).
She taught that certain races of men are the result of sexual relations between man and beast. (SG Vol. 3, p. 64, 75). Which races? You won’t be told this one at the Seminars, or even later!
In conclusion, it is amazing that the SDA Church reveres Ellen G. White; choosing her visions, dreams, doctrines and teachings above the Bible. By accepting her extra-biblical teachings, visions, and doctrines, Seventh-day Adventists have place themselves in the category of a cult. They certainly won’t tell you this fact! They are a cult!