By Nicole Stevenson
If you’re reading this blog on the day it’s published then you need to know the annual Former Adventist Fellowship Conference is convening at 9:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time. I encourage you to join us by visiting the link for the live stream (at the end of this article), and to pray that God would help you know what you need to know.
If you do, and you’re an Adventist, I pray you’re willing to hear from those who once lived among you and who believed as you do, to really listen to what they’ve discovered, trusting God with your questions while knowing that His Word is trustworthy and sufficient. If you’re joining us as a former, I pray you’re encouraged and that you grow in your knowledge of the Lord and His Word. If you’re a concerned Christian who’s never been Adventist, I pray you’re able to see what the Lord wants you to see about the need to reach out to those who need to know what you do. For all of us, I pray that whatever the Lord wills to be taught and understood is, and that anything else would be blown away like chaff and not distract from the simple truths of the pure gospel according to Scripture and the profound need to reach Adventists with that message.
Prepared by the Word
Conference time always feels special to me. As the local members of this ministry begin to work together on conference preparations, I can’t help but feel as though we’re preparing for a family reunion! It’s so fun to see old friends, meet new ones, and to see the Lord at work in the hearts and lives of those He calls to Himself and brings to these events!
I often find myself lingering over the pages of Galatians for many weeks before the conference commences. My mind easily wanders back to that beautiful winter morning in 2010 when the Lord opened my eyes to comprehend Paul’s warning against false teachers and his call to a pure devotion to Christ. Reading the six brief chapters in the letter almost feels like taking a walk through the most important moment of my life—the moment when I saw Christ’s work on my behalf was sufficient. As I recall those early days of learning truth, I find myself wiping tears and praying in earnest for those God is calling to Himself and whose hearts are even now being prepared by the Word to trust Him!
As I’ve been spending time in Galatians again, I’ve been recalling some of the assumptions, questions, and realizations I had the first few times I read it through. Remembering the process I went through to understand how this letter destroyed Adventism has helped me see how perfectly it prepared me for what I would hear at my first Former Adventist Fellowship Conference. For this reason I’ve decided to use this blog to walk through a couple verses in Ephesians and just a few of the powerful verses in the beginning of Galatians 1 which first opened my eyes to the fact that I was in trouble in Adventism. I pray it will produce in you a desire for deeper study in the pages of Scripture alone.
Words Matter: Letting the Bible explain the Bible
While reading the letter this time around, I decided to slow down and examine every text, carefully looking up the cross references in each chapter, and considering each word that stood out to me using a dictionary to look up its fuller meaning. I would encourage you to consider doing the same kind of study through the entire letter on your own time!
Linguists who translate Scripture are careful to use the most accurate words to translate from the original languages. I’ve found that the English words they choose often have more meanings than I attach to them as a monolingual individual who grew up in a country overcome by slang and exaggerated speech. I’ve realized that I can sometimes take words for granted, not fully perceiving the meaning behind them, and this limited understanding sometimes causes me to miss the point the original author is making.
This superficial interpretation of language appears to me to be even more of an important issue needing attention for those who have left a system of religion with its own worldview and definitions, both of which seem to “supernaturally” edit the Scriptures as we read them. Slowing down and spending time studying the true definitions and tenses of even the English words chosen by Bible interpreters will often shed light on the deeper meaning of a passage and often will undo false assumptions and interpretations.
An example of how this kind of study has helped me in the past is when I looked at the words “truth”, “seal”, and “guarantee” in Ephesian 1:13-14 (a text that is very compatible with what we will look at in Galatians). My word study in these verses convicted me deeply of the fact that the new birth is dependent upon trusting the true Christ of Scripture and the true message of the gospel; for, according to this text, it isn’t until one trusts the true message and person of Christ that he or she is sealed by the Holy Spirit. Another gospel and a different Jesus can never save—no matter how sincerely a person believes them.
“In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” (v. 14).
Defining terms
Truth: that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.
Seal: a device or substance that is used to join two things together so as to prevent them from coming apart or to prevent anything from passing between them.
Fasten or close securely.
Guarantee: a formal pledge to pay another person’s debt or to perform another person’s obligation in the case of default.
Provide a formal assurance or promise, especially that certain conditions shall be fulfilled relating to a product, service, or transaction.
After examining the definitions of these words, we can see that these few short verses are not just there for poetic encouragement! When we are told in Ephesians that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance, we can see that this means that God has given us God (the Spirit) to join us to God in order to prevent us from coming apart from God!
God Himself is given to us in such a way that we cannot be separated from Him, and nothing can come between us! Furthermore, God has given Himself as a pledge and a promise for the full assurance of our future inheritance in the saints! God Himself is both the seal that joins us to Him, and the assurance of our inheritance of salvation—not Sabbath-keeping! This sealing only comes when we hear and believe the truth about Him—that which is in accordance with fact and reality—the gospel that truly saves (1 Cor. 15:1-5).
These understandings are further supported by other texts such as 1 Peter 1:3-5, 1 Thessalonians 5:23,24, and Jude 1 where we see that it is God Himself who guards and keeps us in salvation. There is no investigative judgement or great Sabbath test! Once we have believed in the true Jesus told of in the “word of truth”, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and He keeps us in salvation to the praise of His glory- Soli Deo Gloria!
Growing up in an American environment of English slang, the meaning of words like “guarantee” can get lost in hyperbolic language: “Go see that movie! I guarantee you’ll love it!”. This sort of guarantee is empty and meant to emphasize one’s opinion. Growing up in Adventism words like “seal” are defined for us as “God’s rubber stamp” showing we belong to Him (as long as we are keeping Sabbath). Adventism also teaches that while God is unchanging, what we know about Him, “truth”, is always changing and being added to through “progressive revelation” (defined as new information) which can be wrong and may need correcting by “new light” (dynamics that do not belong to reality!).
When reading the Bible it is our greatest treasure to consider carefully the true meaning of the words divinely inspired in their original text, as well as the context in which they’re used, always remembering that it’s God Himself who is speaking in the pages of Scripture. We can never be disappointed with this kind of careful study, and truth will always dispel lies!
Along with paying careful attention to the words of Scripture, I’ve found it’s important to consider other places where what I’m reading has been discussed. This is where cross references are truly helpful in pulling larger ideas together; Scripture interprets Scripture and always affirms itself in this way.
Diving In: Galatians 1:6-9
I’d like to look with you at just three verses in Galatians and consider what they might tell us about the importance of who and what we are trusting for our salvation. If you’ve not yet read Galatians, I encourage you to take 15 minutes and read through it in one sitting before walking through these next few verses with me. Once you’ve done that, turn with me to 1:6.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel”
I remember well when I heard someone tell me that Adventism had a different gospel and a different Jesus. It was quite startling. My first wondering was whether the person who said it was just angry and speaking impetuously, but then I considered what was at stake if they were right. I knew I had to press into the Scriptures and consider what they said, trusting that God was merciful and powerful enough to keep me from error. I needed to know how Scripture defined a “different gospel” because, according to the verse above, trusting the wrong message is equated with deserting Christ!
Let’s let Scripture interpret Scripture and look at the cross references for this part of verse 6. My ESV brings me to 2 Corinthians and to 1 Timothy:
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough (2 Cor. 11:3-4).
Charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3b).
It seems clear from these other writings that what Paul has in view as he writes about a different gospel is simply different doctrines about Jesus and about salvation, and that behind those different doctrines is a different spirit. So, while I once thought a different gospel meant a different religion altogether, it’s clear from other passages that it can actually mean something as insidious as a different belief, or set of beliefs, about the person and work of Christ. Paul goes on to clarify further in verse 7.
Not that there is another one…
Let’s look at the cross references for that text: Acts 4:12, 1 Corinthians 3:11.
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11).
Paul is making it clear that there are not multiple gospels or ways to salvation. There is only one gospel—the true gospel. Anything else is not actually “another gospel”, as in “another viable option”. What he is conveying here is that “another gospel” is a false gospel. Look at how he defines it further in that verse.
But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
What does it mean to distort something?
—Pull or twist out of shape.
—Give a misleading or false account or impression of.
Paul is referring to people who were misusing the Scriptures and the name of the Lord Jesus to deliver a different message, attempting to validate it by misapplying the same source of authority the believers used, God’s word! They were twisting the person and work of Christ out of shape and giving misleading or false impressions of the reality of salvation, creating a message altogether different. They were using the source of truth to create a twisted lie!
Until reading these verses I had believed that if we were sincere, and using the Bible, we were OK (even if we added onto the nature and work of Jesus the new revelations given to us by a prophet with an angelic visitor). I believed sincere misinterpretations were allowed by God. However, Galatians was saying that whatever gospel you end up believing, if it wasn’t the gospel given to us by the Apostles, it was another gospel, a distorted gospel, and it was not salvific but was in fact departing from the Christ of Scripture!
Galatians was changing my thinking and opening my eyes to the nature of the Adventist message and to the danger of believing anything other than what Scripture alone has revealed about God. But, what about Ellen White’s angelic visitors and “visions from God”? Visions and angelic beings seem pretty authoritative, don’t they?
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received let him be accursed.
An angel from Heaven? Let’s look at the cross reference for this.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15).
Suddenly the reality that evil spirits can disguise themselves as angels of light and bring doctrines of demons to false teachers left me wondering about Ellen G. White’s “handsome visitor” and endless visions. I began considering how her messages lined up with the message of Scripture. It was undeniable that they altered the gospel of Scripture in countless ways. Alterations we all respectfully referred to as “present truth” or “progressive revelation” but which offered a message entirely unique to us.
So what does it mean to preach a gospel that is contrary to the Apostles?
—opposite in nature, direction, or meaning.
—perversely inclined to disagree or to do the opposite of what is expected or desired.
Adventists proclaim that they have a unique message given only to them; the “remnant church” with a “remnant message”. They claim that God gave Ellen G. White a message for the church in the last days and that it would be the great work of the Seventh-day Adventists to course correct Christendom so that they will embrace the Jewish Sabbath and perfectly keep the 10 commandments, ushering in the return of Christ. Furthermore, the Adventist Great Controversy Worldview, also given to Ellen White in a “vision” redefined the person and work of Christ leaving Adventists to believe they were the only ones who knew the truth about pre-creation history, the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of life and death. Adventism had the “right” answers for everything and those answers were gospel changing game changers!
The Adventist message is not the same gospel given to us by the Apostles. Adventists openly confess that their message is not the same one given by the apostles, they believe that the apostolic gospel was not the full message of Jesus Christ and that the full revelation of God’s plan of salvation, lifestyle, and godliness were given to Ellen G. White. They believe she was was called by God to be “more than a prophet” and to usher in the last message of Christ before He could return. While they believe they began with Scripture, they also believe that their prophetess “clarifies” Scripture and brings new truth.
When honestly examined, we see many teachings in Adventism that are contrary to the God and work of God revealed in Scripture. In Adventism their god is not sovereign in human history let alone in all of creation; Jesus is not understood as fully God (their deep Arian roots required to sustain their core doctrines continue to distort their understanding of the Trinity), and human salvation is incomplete and relies on man keeping the law while being investigated by watching angels so they can vindicate God’s character to other watching worlds.
The Scriptures, however, reveal a God Sovereign over all of human history and creation and a Savior who is fully God and who offers us a salvation that is complete! Not only is the message of Adventism altogether different, it is also perversely inclined to disagree with clear statements in Scripture about the security of the believer, the nature of God and man, the destiny of the unsaved, the reality of the human spirit, and the character of the God of the Bible—to only name a few!
The Adventist “gospel” is opposite in nature, in direction, and in the meaning of who Christ is and what He did. Like the Galatian heresy, Adventism uses the person of Jesus and the words of Scripture to proclaim a message contrary to the message of the Apostles.
When evaluating Adventism according to Scripture it seems clear to me that it’s made up of doctrines of demons set forth to distort the gospel and person of Christ and to perversely mislead mankind to stake their eternity on a false gospel that will not save. Adventism appears to me to be a post-resurrection attack on the seed of the woman and His inheritance! Satan could not stop Christ’s work of salvation for all who believe, but he is hard at work to deceive those who would call upon His name!
We saw in Ephesians 1:13,14 that it is only in believing the word of truth about Christ and His redemptive work that causes us to be saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This means that there is nothing more important in your life than knowing the truth about the God of the Bible.
So Now What?
When I finished reading Paul’s letter to the Galatians back in 2010 my husband found me crying in my living room. He asked me if I was OK, and all I could get out was, “They lied to us.” My husband was further along in his walk away from Adventism and had been trying to get me to attend a Christian church in the area. With compassion in his eyes he gently asked, “Do you want to go to church tomorrow?” which was a Sunday. With deep peace about my answer I quietly responded, “Yes, I do.”
Galatians is clear, there is only one gospel that saves. Believing any other gospel is to desert Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2:21 that, “…if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” and again in 5:4, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from Grace.” The only authoritative gospel given to us by which we can be saved is given by the Apostles of Christ in the pages of the Scriptures, we must make it our greatest effort to nurture a pure devotion to Christ praying to be kept from deception that would cause us to desert our Lord!
What you believe about God is a matter of life and death. It will determine your destiny and it will impact your present life in profound ways. Let God’s testimony be enough. Do not look to extra-biblical prophets, general conference leaders, local congregational leaders, or university professors who have given their lives to serve the Adventist message; look to Scripture and let that be your only fount of truth as you seek to know the God of the Bible and to learn of His good news of salvation for all who will believe in Him.
So now what? Well, first I would encourage you to continue to work your way through Paul’s letter to the Galatians letting Scripture interpret Scripture and paying careful attention to the words used. Next, why don’t you join us in studying God’s Word and let Him tell you the Truth about who He is and what He has done for you.
Now, go to the following link and enjoy the live stream of the Former Adventist Fellowship Conference going on right now in Loma Linda. https://www.youtube.com/user/FormerAdventist/live
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