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Seven-day Adventism – Right or Wrong?

February 4, 2010 at 3:49 PM Leave a comment

One of the Logos used by SDA

Recently, due to one of my Blogs, a number of issues came up related to Seventh-day Adventism (SDA).  Due to my calling it “cult-like” at least one individual took umbrage, in spite of the fact that I had not used that term in an attempt to deliberately offend anyone.

While I genuinely appreciate this man’s comments to me, it was clear that though we were both using English to get our points across, we seemed to “miss” one another’s meaning.  That caused me to think that maybe the subject needed a bit more of a chance to spread itself out over the space of a few Blogs.  What I’ve decided to do is take a few Blogs to highlight some of the more promiment teachings of SDA from the SDA itself (not what people believe them to teach, but what they actually teach), and then people can decide for themselves.  Is SDA a cult, or is it merely an outgrowth of an existing denomination, or a new denomination altogether?  The only reason I am broaching this subject is so that all of us (not just SDA adherents), will take the time to look at their own understanding of salvation and determine if what they have is the biblical version of it; the salvation that Jesus came to secure, to provide and what He Himself taught.

I have not arrived at the end of my learning.  In fact, I will be continuing to learn throughout eternity.  Yet, there are things we can know and should know in this life.  In fact the difference between knowing something as it is biblically taught or not, can be the difference between eternal life, or eternal death.  It is really that simply, and ultimately that dramatic.  I want no one to leave this life, and enter HELL, especially when that can be avoided.  God does not want anyone to perish either.  The reality though is far different, with 150,000 people dying every day – yes, that is 150,000 individuals leaving this planet and arriving in eternity.  Tragically, the fact may also exist that of those 150,000 people, most may not know Jesus at all.  Some may think they do, but find out that they do not, and only a smaller percentage will turn out to have actually been in a relationship with Him in this life; a relationship that granted salvation.

Because salvation is so extremely important to everyone (whether they believe so or not), it is also extremely important to know whether or not we actually have that salvation, the authentic salvation that Christ speaks of and warns against not having.  I will be using a number of sources for information for these Blogs I will be writing.  Of course, the Bible is the primary source, and all SDA teachings will be compared and contrasted to God’s Word.  I will also be using a number of other sources; one in particular is written by a gentleman who spent years as a Seventh-day Adventist, only to discover that what he had believed most of his life did not square with Scripture.  Of course, it could be said that this man (or anyone like him) simply has a axe to grind and because of that axe, he has deliberately made SDA teachings and beliefs something they are not.  That is always the possibility with anyone who writes about some theological framework with which they have come to disagree.  The reader will have to ultimately be the final judge.

I would like to clearly and without equivocation state that what I write here, including my comments for or against a particular teaching of the SDA, is not done to simply bash the SDA.  I would also like to state that I am not presenting this information as a form of “judging” those who believe the SDA is not teaching theology contrary to Scripture.  We are told numerous times throughout the New Testament alone that we are to “test the spirits” (cf. 1 John 4:1-3), to study to be approved (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and to learn to rightly divide (or fully comprehend) the Word of God (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15).  Why?  Because there is a great amount of error out there and much of it is brought to us by evil spirits.  This is where all of it starts and when given to gullible individuals who do not know God’s Word, it becomes easy for them to embrace that error.

By way of emphasizing the importance of knowing God’s Word, we need look no further than Jesus Himself.  After His baptism, he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan.  After 40 days and 40 nights, and at His weakest, Satan came to Him and began tempting Him.  Satan first tried to tempt Him to turn stones into bread, but the way he presented it to Jesus was of course, sneaky.  He wanted Jesus to prove that He was God, prove it by turing stones into bread.  He knew Jesus was hungry.  You and would also be very hungry, so it seemed reasonable at first glance to tempt Jesus with something that he was likely already yearning for:  food.

However, instead of giving into that temptation, Jesus responded with Scripture.  He said, “It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God,” (Luke 4:4b).  In other words, Satan was trying to get Christ to do something that would have been out of the Father’s will, by reminding Him how hungry He was, and that since He was hungry, God the Father would not mind if he turned stones into bread!  After all, God the Father would not want Jesus to die of starvation, would He?

When Jesus responded with Scripture – and by the way, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3 there – He implied two very important things:

1. Fulfilling God the Father’s will at every point was the most important thing that He could ever do, and
2. Using His deity for selfish purposes was not in the Father’s will for Him.

Of course Satan did not give up.  He came at Jesus again, but from a different angle, and this time, Satan’s boldness grew exponentially.  In fact, it appears as though with this particular temptation, that Satan threw caution to the wind, took off his mask and literally implored Jesus to do what Adam and Eve did, when they switched their allegiance to Satan by choosing to believe what he said about God.  This resulted in calling God a liar.

Satan leads Jesus up to a very high place in the mountains and shows him the kingdoms of the world.  He offers them to Jesus…on one condition.  Satan wanted Jesus to worship him (Satan).  Notice that Jesus did not seem to get angry.  He simply responded again with Scripture.  Christ knew the devil’s game and He was ready for it.  Why?  Because He had spent years studying the Torah, the Pentateuch and other ancient writings.  He had been taught by some of the best teachers around and He also spent a good deal of time on His own, reading and memorizing and praying.  Jesus’ response shows how much He knew and how quickly it came to the surface.  “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve,”  (Luke 4:8b).  What happened then?  Satan had one more ace up his sleeve and he desperately needed it to work!

On this third and final temptation (for now), Satan threw all caution to the wind.  He led Jesus up to the highest point of the Temple and said, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:  For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone,” (Luke 4:9b-11).  Here, we see that Satan himself got involved in the act of quoting Scripture.  Of course since he does not know anything but lying, then we can be assured that though the Scripture he chose to use is true, by taking it out of its context, Satan actually wound up giving it a completely different meaning that the one intended by God.

Satan is quoting Psalm 91:11-12 to Jesus.  It certainly seems as though it might work for this situation, but what is the context?  If we carefully read through the entire Psalm 91, we find that the Psalmist is referring to those individuals who hide in the shelter of the Lord, and those who trust Him regardless of the circumstances that come to them.  More importantly, we understand the Psalmist to be saying that as we travel through this life, God will protect us.  The Psalmist is using poetic language to teach that God protects those whom He loves.  How does He do this?  He does this spiritually.  The Bible – to my knowledge – never teaches that He will bless us physically so that we are constantly protected from the trials and even the persecutions of life.  This obviously cannot be the case since so many saints of old (and even today!) have lost their lives for their faith.

More to the point, Satan was again trying to tempt Jesus to stumble by misapplying the truth of Scripture to a situation in which it did not apply.  Jesus did not fall for it, responding with “It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” (Luke 4:12b), which is exactly what it would have been, had Jesus taken the Tempter’s advice and jumped!  I’m certain you get the point.  It is that we are always in danger of misunderstanding Scripture if we are not careful.  If Jesus needed to study Scripture throughout His life, memorizing, and meditating on it, how much more do we?

We cannot go through life as Christians, thinking that we think we understand something.  If we cannot find it in the Bible, or explain it adequately to other individuals with a clear understanding of Scripture, then we really know nothing about that subject.  It is not good enough to say “I’m only human.”  Jesus was also human, yet remained fully God.  However, the only time He used His resident full deity, was when it coincided with the Father’s will.  He learned God’s Word by studying it, memorizing it, discussing it, and praying about it.  He got to the point that wherever He went, He had God’s Word because it had been hidden in His heart.  Again, if Jesus did this, how much more do we need to do it?

This particular Blog has been introductory.  The next one will get us right into a number of Seventh-day Adventist teachings and we will begin with their understanding of what constitutes salvation.  We will compare and contrast that with Scripture to see where they stand.  Join me please.

Entry filed under: Atheism and religion, Demonic, dispensationalism, Life in America, Posttribulational Rapture, Pretribulational Rapture, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation. Tags: bible scripture, jesus christ, rightly dividing the word of God, salvation, sin, studying to be approved, temptation of Christ.