| . |
| . |
At the commencement of this study in Seventh Day Adventism the writer needs to explain why he has selected to include the Seventh Day Adventist with the cults. For not all experts on the cults are convinced that they are to be included in the cults. He includes them with the cults with some slight degree of reservation. This is because they are surprisingly orthodox in some of their doctrines. They do have some characteristics of the cults, and do hold certain doctrines which deviate significantly from orthodox Christianity. They are not heretical in their doctrine of God, like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. They hold to the trinitarian nature of God. The are also basically orthodox in their views of the person of Christ and His work. Their most questionable characteristics concern the acceptance of extra-revelation. For they hold Ellen G White to have been a prophetess, and some S.D.A's treat her writings as being equal in authority to the Bible. They are also suspect in their doctrine of salvation, in that they tend to treat the "keeping of the Sabbath" as a means of salvation. While there may be sufficient justification for treating Seventh Day Adventism as a cult, it should be understood that its deviation from the truth is not sufficient to warrant the conclusion that all S.D.A's are unsaved. Walter Martin is a world authority on the cults, and he says the following:
"It is my conviction that one cannot be a true Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Christian Scientist, Unitarian, Spiritist, etc., and be a Christian in the Biblical sense of the term, but it is perfectly possible to be a Seventh Day Adventist and be a true follower of Jesus Christ despite certain heterodox concepts which will be discussed."151
In like manner, the writer is also persuaded that it is possible to be a genuine Christian and be a Seventh Day Adventist. However, the writer would never advise someone to join the Seventh Day Adventist, for it has very serious deficiencies.
In order to discover the origin of Seventh Day Adventism, one must commence with the Millerite movement of the 19th century. For Seventh Day Adventism grew out of the Millerite movement. William Miller was born in Pittsfield Massachusetts, U.S.A in 1782.152 In his childhood his family moved to Low Hampton, New York U.S.A. William Miller was raised in a Christian home, but became a complete sceptic in his early adulthood. However, God mercifully brought him to Himself in the year 1816. Following his conversion, he began to study the Bible intensively, and especially the subject of Christ's second coming. He continued this intensive study of prophecy for two years with the aid of Cruden's Concordance. At this end of this period he came to the conclusion that the world would end some time between March 21st, 1843 and March 21st, 1844.153 He based these findings primarily on his interpretation of the prophecies of the book of Daniel. In 1831 he began to speak publicly about his predictions concerning the end of the world in 1843. He gained quite a following; and the movement has subsequently become known as the "Millerite movement."
For twelve years Miller went about preaching and warning people that Christ would return in 1843. However his predictions did not come true. The predicted date arrived and then passed and the Lord did not come. Miller was dumbfounded at the failure of his calculations, and he was forced to concede that he had been wrong. One can imagine his disappointment after preaching on this subject for so long, and then to discover he was totally wrong. Unfortunately the Millerite movement did not end at this point, for in August 1844, Samuel Snow, one of the Millerite leaders, launched the so called "Seventh-month movement." He had become convinced that an error of calculation had been made by Miller, and he made another prediction that Christ would return on October 22, 1844. This prediction rapidly gained momentum among the Millerites; and even Miller himself was convinced. Millerites gathered in their homes waiting as the expected arrival of the Lord drew near. However, October 22, 1844 came and went without Christ's return. One can well imagine the disappointment of the Millerites. It was a great disappointment for them, in fact this day became known as the Great Disappointment of 1844.154
One need only to read the words of Jesus to realise that William Miller was wrong in his attempt to pinpoint the date of Christ's return. For Jesus said that not even He, in His earthly state, knew the time of His second coming. Furthermore, William Miller was not competent scholar of the Bible. William Miller had no expertise in the original languages of the Bible, he knew no Greek or Hebrew; and he never used any commentaries. His calculations were based on a very naive approach to the Scriptures. The prophetic portion of the book of Daniel is one of the most difficult portions in the Bible to understand. The prophecies in that book are notoriously difficult to understand. Miller was exceedingly presumptuous to suppose that with his limited knowledge he could make any real headway in understanding this book. While one should not depreciate his zeal to study the Bible, he should learn from his mistake to be more cautious when dealing with the difficult subject of prophecy.
One might have thought that after the great disappointment that the Millerite movement would have died a natural death. In some ways this did in fact happen, since many in this movement came to recognise their mistake, including William Miller himself. That may have been the end of the story, but for three individuals who had been connected with the Millerite movement, who went on to become the founders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Hiram Edson, of Port Gibson New York, was and ardent follower of William Miller. After the great disappointment of October 22nd, 1844 he was confused but not convinced that Miller's predictions had been entirely wrong. On the following day Hiram Edson went into his barn to pray for enlightenment, and he believed that such enlightenment was granted to him by God. He believed that he received a vision from God explaining the where Miller had gone wrong. God revealed to him that William Miller had been wrong in predicting that the Lord Jesus would return in 1844. He was told that a significant event did happen on that date, Jesus had entered the heavenly sanctuary and began a new phase of His heavenly ministry. Following is a quote from Hiram Edson concerning this vision:
"We started, and while passing through a large field I was stopped about midway of the field. Heaven seemed open to my view, and I saw distinctly and clearly that instead of our High Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth on the tenth day of the seventh month, at the end of 2300 days, He for the first time entered on that day the second apartment of that sanctuary; and that He had a work to perform in the most holy, before coming to this earth."155
What was this further work that Christ had to do in the second apartment of the sanctuary? According to Hiram Edson, on October 22nd 1844, Christ began the second phase of His heavenly ministry. At that time He entered the Holy of holies in the heavenly sanctuary in order to place the sins of His people on Satan. Hiram Edson's vision prompted him to earnest Bible study. He along with a couple of other Millerite friends began to study the Bible diligently, and in particular they gave themselves to the study of those sections of the Scripture dealing with the sanctuary. They developed the doctrine that Christ had entered the Holy of Holies in the heavenly sanctuary, in a similar way that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. They came to the conclusion that just as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to blot out the sins of the people, so Christ also entered the inner chamber of the heavenly sanctuary on October 22nd 1844, in order to blot out the sins of His people. In Edson's view, Christ before that date had simply forgiven sins, He had not blotted them out. This peculiar doctrine became known as the "Investigative Judgement".156 This is a doctrine still held by the Seventh Day Adventist. They believe that Jesus entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies in 1844 in order to commence an investigation into the lives of believers in order to see whether they are worthy to enter heaven.
Joseph Bates was another major figure in the development of Seventh Day Adventism. He had spent twenty-one years at sea, and during that time had advanced from cabin boy to ship's captain. He had been converted to Christianity while at sea. After his retirement he took up residence in the town of Fair Haven, in the State of Massachusetts, where he joined an Adventist group. From 1839 onwards he became a prominent leader of a Adventist movement in Massachusetts.157 Joseph Bates was particularly instrumental in developing the Seventh Day Adventist's view of the Sabbath day. He became convinced that the seventh day was the correct day to be kept as the Sabbath. He wrote a forty-eight page tract entitled: The Seventh-day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign. This was widely circulated among the Adventist. Due to his influence the Adventist movement embraced the practice of keeping the Saturday rather than Sunday as the Sabbath.
The most significant person in the development of Seventh Day Adventism was Ellen G. White. She was born Ellen G. Harmon in 1827 in Gorham-Maine. While still a child she moved with her family to Portland. Ellen was raised in a Christian home, her parents were members of the Methodist Church. However, her parents did not remain in the Methodist church, but were excommunicated because they endorsed the prophetic predictions of William Miller. As a result of this Ellen and her parents began meeting with other Adventists.
Ellen's contribution to the development of Seventh Day Adventism was due to her conviction that she received revelation from God. She claimed to have received her first revelation from God on the day the "Great Disappointment" of 1844. She claimed to have seen the Advent believers travelling along a lighted path-way until they reached the shining City of God. Jesus was the guide and leader of this group, which grew to become a great company.158 However, that was not the only revelation she received from God. She claimed to have received numerous visions from God, all of which gave credence to the peculiar doctrines of the Seventh Day Adventists. She believed that God told her to tell others what He had shown her in these visions. So she embarked on a life of public witnessing, counselling and teaching. Almost every aspect of belief and activity of the Seventh Day Adventists was encouraged or inspired by one of her many visions. She confirmed Hiram Edson's vision; she also received visions confirming Joseph Bates doctrine of the importance of worshipping on the seventh day.159
The name "Seventh Day Adventist" was first adopted by the Adventist in May 1860; and in May 1863 the first General Seventh Day Adventist Conference was held in Battle Creek, Michigan.160 Since that time the Seventh Day Adventist cult has grown to become a world wide organisation. This growth has been due in some respects to their missionary emphasis. Soon after they were formed they began to send out missionaries to propagate their beliefs. They sent missionaries to many different countries in the world in order to spread their message and plant Seventh Day Adventist churches. Missionaries were sent to, Europe, Africa, Australia, the South Sea Islands, South America, the Orient, the Middle East, and to Central America.161 As a result of this very aggressive missionary thrust Seventh Day Adventism has become a world wide movement. Today it is a worldwide organisation that is established in most countries of the world. They have many millions of members world wide. They publish periodicals in more than 200 different languages. They have radio and Television programs. They are active in education, health and medical enterprises, having thousands of elementary schools and hundreds of colleges. They are also very keen on health and possess many hospitals around the world as well as producing many health foods. Seventh Day Adventism is very strong in Australia today, having established itself in every major town and city in Australia. The Sanatarium products that the average Australian is very familiar with are produced by the Seventh Day Adventists.
The Seventh Day Adventist claims to hold to the full authority of God's word, and denies holding any other writing as being equal in authority to the Scriptures. The following is a quote taken from "Questions on Doctrine," a primary source of Seventh Day Adventist doctrine.
"Seventh Day Adventists hold the Protestant position that the Bible and the Bible only is the sole rule of faith and practice for Christians. We believe that all theological beliefs must be measured by the living Word, judged by its truth, and whatsoever is unable to pass this test, or is found to be out of harmony with its message is to be rejected."162
The difficulty with this is that it does not appear to be carried out in practice. Ellen G White claimed to have received revelations from God, as did other founders of this cult. Some Seventh Day Adventist today hold the prophecies of Ellen G White as of equal authority to the Scriptures, even though this is not the officially stated position of the church. The official position of the S.D.A's, with regards to the prophecies of Mrs Ellen G White is given in the follow quote:
"We do not regard the writings of Ellen G White as an addition to the sacred canon of Scripture. We do not think of them as of universal application, as the Bible, but particularly for the Seventh Day Adventist Church. We do not regard them in the same sense as the Holy Scriptures, which stand alone and unique as the standard by which all other writings must be judged."163
Such statements from the official writings of the Seventh Day Adventist Church appear to be reasonably orthodox. However, in practice this is not the case. For many Seventh Day Adventist do regard the writings of Mrs Ellen G White as being of equal authority to the word of God. What these officials say is not actually born out in practice. In many Seventh Day Adventist Churches the writings of Mrs Ellen G White are quoted as though they were the authoritative word of God. The author has witnessed this himself, having attended a number of S.D.A services.
A second area that puts a question mark over Seventh Day Adventism is their doctrine of the atonement of Christ. They have been charged with teaching that Christ's atonement on the cross was partial. While this may have been true in the past, before Seventh Day Adventist doctrine became systematised, it has not been the official position of the Church from 1957. For in that year the S.D.A's produced a definitive statement of their beliefs - Questions of Doctrine. And in this publication they make their beliefs in the atonement of Christ crystal clear. Note the two following quotes taken from Questions on Doctrine:
"Seventh-day Adventists do not believe that Christ made but partial or incomplete sacrificial atonement on the cross."164
"Most decidedly the all-sufficient atoning sacrifice of Jesus our Lord was offered and completed on the cross of Calvary. This was done for all mankind, for 'he is the propitiation.... for the sins of the whole world' (1 John 2:2). This sacrificial work will actually benefit human hearts only as we surrender our live to God and experience the miracle of new birth".165
Such statements leave us in no doubt about their orthodoxy in the doctrine of Christ's atonement. It is possible that the old heresies linger on in some quarters, but in fairness to their stated official position, we may conclude that they are orthodox in their view of the atonement.
As we have already learnt, a characteristic feature of the cults is a work's salvation and a denial of salvation by grace. So then we need to ask the question: Do the Seventh Day Adventists teach a salvation by works? A. Hoekema in his book The Four Major Cults accuses the Seventh Day Adventist Church with a denial of grace and a salvation by human works. He argues that they make salvation a human endeavour rather than a gift of God. He says:
"For, in the last analysis, the Adventists teach that it is not the work of Jesus Christ done once for all on the cross, but their faithful keeping of God's commandments and their faithful confession of every single sin that determine whether they are saved or lost. Sinful deeds committed subsequent to their having accepted Christ may cause God to cancel His forgiveness."166
There is no doubt that there is a great deal of substance in his assessment. The writer's own impression of the Seventh Day Adventists has been that this it is true. They most certainly lean in the direction of trusting in their own works to save them, rather than trusting in the finished work of Christ. However, if one accepts the official statements of the S.D.A church, then they deny salvation by human merit. Take for example the following statement:
"That which saves is grace alone, through faith in the living Christ. And similarly, that which justifies is His free and blessed grace. We likewise believe in works, and in full obedience to the will and commandments of God. But works in which we believe, and that we seek to perform, are the result, or fruitage, of salvation, not the means to salvation, in whole or in part. And the obedience that we render is the loving response of a life that is saved by grace. Salvation is never earned; it is a gift from God through Jesus Christ."167
Such a statement is most certainly orthodox, and no Protestant would be disturbed by it. However, there are other statements made by prominent Seventh Day Adventists that would suggest that they are inconsistent on this subject. Note the following remark made by Mrs Ellen G White in her book The Great Controversy.
"The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not." 168
According to Mrs Ellen G White the final great test distinguishing between true and false believers will be whether they keep the Sabbath day on Saturday or Sunday. Those who refuse to do keep it on Saturday will be lost. There is undue emphasis upon the fourth commandment which has had a bad effect upon people in the Seventh Day Adventism. There is a strong tendency among them to think that keeping the fourth commandment actually merits their entitlement to heaven. While the authorities actually deny that this is S.D.A doctrine, in practice many of their members think that they are saved by keeping the Sabbath. Such an idea is totally opposite to the teachings of Scripture, which teaches that no one will ever be justified on the basis of the law. Paul proves this in his letters to the Roman and Galatian churches. If one could be justified on the basis of law then grace is no longer grace. Their writings exhibit an inconsistency on the subject of salvation. Such inconsistency has had a detrimental effect on many of the members. Therefore, if you have a friend or a relative in the Seventh Day Adventist church then the writer suggests that you do not take it for granted that he or she is saved. The Seventh Day Adventist rarely hears the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone.
Seventh Day Adventists believe that when a person dies he or she ceases to exist. They believe that a person remains in this non existent state until he or she is awakened to eternal life, at the return of Christ. Note the following quote from their official book of doctrine:
"While asleep in the tomb the child of God knows nothing. Time matters not to him. If he should be there a thousand years, the time would be to him as but a moment. One who serves God closes his eyes in death, and whether one day or two thousand years elapse, the next instant in his consciousness will be when he opens his eyes and beholds his blessed Lord. To him it is death - then sudden glory."169
While this teaching clearly runs contrary to the teaching of Scripture, the question is this: Is this teaching such that it makes S.D.A's a cult. The answer is surely, No! For even William Tyndale believed that the soul slept until the resurrection.170 Would we regard Tyndale as a heretic? Certainly not! All we can say at this point is that the S.D.A's are wrong in their doctrine of the afterlife. Their doctrine of soul sleep does not constitute a heresy. Walter Martin says:
"The question of soul sleep, however, should cause no serious division between Christians since it does not affect the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, or the salvation of the soul." 171
One of the more serious aberrations of the Seventh Day Adventism is their denial of eternal punishment. They believe that all unbelievers will be annihilated. Note the following quote from their publication - Fundamental Beliefs:
The finally impenitent, including Satan, the author of sin, will, by the fires of the last day, be reduced to a state of non-existence, becoming as though they had not been, thus purging God's universe of sin and sinners.172
According to the above statement, Satan and all sinners will be reduced to a state of non-existence as punishment for their sin. Seventh Day Adventist reject the doctrine of hell as taught in historic Christianity. Such a view does not necessarily make them a cult, but is the cause of much concern, since it seriously conflicts with the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment.
One of the central doctrines of the Seventh Day Adventists is their view that Christians should worship God on the Saturday. In this they depart from the common practice of the Christian church since Apostolic days. Their doctrine of the Sabbath originated with Joseph Bates, who due to various influences, became convinced that the seventh day was the correct day to worship God. Having became convinced of this doctrine, he wrote two tracts about it. His position on the subject has become standard teaching in the Seventh Day Adventists church. A short time after writing his first tract, Ellen G White had a vision in which she was taken into the Holy of Holies of the heavenly tabernacle, and there she saw the Ten Commandments with a halo of glory around the Sabbath Commandment. In her book, The Great Controversy she argues at length that Saturday Sabbath keeping will mark genuine Christians at the last days. She puts forward the idea that the Roman Catholic Church was initially responsible for changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. It is important to observe that the S.D.A's did not arrive at their view of the Sabbath through careful examination of Scripture. Rather, their peculiar doctrine of the Sabbath, was adopted primarily because of the supposed visions received by Ellen G White.
S.D.A's regard their observance of Saturday Sabbath keeping as a mark indicating that they are the true church. However, they are most certainly out of step with historic Christianity. For Luke informs us that the early Christians met on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Also there is abundant evidence from the early church writings that Christians regularly met to worship God on the first day of the week. Their reason for meeting on the first day of the week is quite readily plain. They met on that day because it was the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. Note the comments of the writer of the epistle of Barnabas, who wrote the following about the year 100 AD.
"Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead."173
Note also the words of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who said in the year 110 AD:
"Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for "he that does not work, let him not eat." For say the holy oracles, "In the sweat of they face shalt thou eat thy bread." But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking with a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all days of the week. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, "To the end, for the eighth day," on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour deny, "whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things."174
And Justin Martyr (100-165) said the following:
"But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead."175
Why have Christians since apostolic days worshipped God on the Sunday, rather than on the Saturday as the Jews did? The answer is simple, Christians from the earliest times have worshiped on the first day of the week rather than the last, because this was the day that Jesus rose from the dead. It is also not without significance, that this was also the day that the Holy Spirit was given, the day of Pentecost was a Sunday. (Acts 2) It was the practice of the early Christians to worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:6-7) It was also interesting to observe that Jesus appeared most frequently on Sunday (John 10:19ff) So the teaching of Seventh Day Adventism is clearly out of step with historic Christianity.
The Seventh Day Adventists have a peculiar doctrine which is referred to as the Investigative Judgement. They believe that the sins of believers are recorded in the heavenly sanctuary; and that in 1844 Jesus entered this heavenly sanctuary and began this investigative judgement. The Adventists teach that Christ is our high priest, and as such He has transferred the sins of believers to the heavenly sanctuary, which will be cleansed at the conclusion of the Investigative Judgement. In this judgement, Christ investigates the history of the lives of people to see whether we are fit to enter into heaven. Some, whose names are found in the sanctuary, will have sins remaining upon their record. Their names will be blotted out of the book of life.
Their are a number of problems with this doctrine. In the first place it is quite absurd to believe that God's Son needs time to investigate people. God's Son is infinite in wisdom and understanding, He does not need to investigate anything, He has immediate and comprehensive knowledge of all things. Secondly, we as Presbyterians, would disagree that any elect person can fall from grace. The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that all whom Christ calls to Himself will persevere. Unlike Seventh Day Adventists we believe that nothing can separate Christ's elect from Him. (Romans 8:38,39)
So then, the evidence demonstrates that Seventh Day Adventism does depart from orthodox Christianity in some significant respects. The question is, is their departure from orthodoxy sufficient to make them a cult? The writer is not sure that he has the answer to that question. However, he is sure that their doctrinal stance is seriously flawed and that he would never recommend anyone becoming a Seventh Day Adventist. He also believes that efforts must be made to present the gospel to Seventh Day Adventist, since many are not converted.
151Walter Martin Kingdom of the Cults op cit p.360
152A.A Hoekema op cit p.89
153ibid pp 89,90
154Walter Martin The Kingdom of the Cults op cit p.362
155A.A Hoekema pp. 92,93
156Walter Martin The Kingdom of the Cults op cit p.364
157A.A Hoekema op cit p.95
158ibid p.97
159ibid pp. 96-98
160ibid p.99
161ibid p.99
162Walter Martin The Kingdom of the Cults op cit p.370 (Quoted from Questions and Doctrine p.646
163ibid p380
164ibid p.371
165ibid p.371
166A.A Hoekema op cit p.126
167ibid p.123
168Ellen G White The Great Controversy Better Living Publications, Columbia Pike, Silver Springs, Md, 1990, p.341
169A.A Hoekema op cit p.136
170Walter Martin The Kingdom the Cults op cit p.386
171ibid p.392
172A A Hoekema op cit p.142
173The Anti-Nicean Fathers, Volume 1, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, American Edition, by Cleveland Cox, T & T Clark Edinburgh, Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1993, p.147.
174ibid pp.62,63
175ibid p.186