We got mail…

Sharing Sabbath School commentaries

Thank you very much for your Sabbath School commentary; it really helps me.  

My Adventist friends tried to convince me to go back to the church by sending me their Sabbath School lessons every week. I’m very blessed to have your magazine in which I could study the truth thoroughly and forward it to them as well.

I only can pray that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts and opens their eyes as well.

God bless your ministry; I really appreciate your hard work.

—VIA EMAIL

 

Telling my sister I’m leaving

We spoke about a year ago. I had finally started searching for answers about Adventism (I always felt something was off). Since then, my father passed away from Covid, church was shut down, and I have not attended since, even though they have reopened. The passing of my father was tragic; however, we never had a good relationship, so his passing did not have an enormous effect on me. 

As I continue to study the Bible (properly, with the help of your podcast) I think I am ready to tell my sister what I have discovered. I have told my husband, who was never Adventist, but has since confessed to me that he always thought that Adventism was very cultish, and he is  glad to hear that I no longer belong to something like that. 

I need help figuring out how to tell my sister that I do not want to be part of the church anymore. I have written down many things that I would like to share with her as reasons why I don’t believe any of the Adventist teachings. Can you suggest any major topics that I should share with her as evidence that Adventism has distorted the gospel message?

—VIA EMAIL

Response: Wow, what a traumatic and eventful year you have had! I’m sorry about your father. I’m thankful for the way God has been opening His word to you! 

Regarding your sister: that is a tough one. Without knowing her (but knowing how hard it is to tell an Adventist that one is leaving the “fold”), I would say there are two major things they need to know. They need to know the true gospel, and they need to know that God’s authority cannot be shared with a false prophet. 

Your list likely has what you need to say already on it; since you know your sister, you know what you would want to tell her and what she would understand as you tell her. 

I would want to communicate the new covenant: the fact that the old covenant was temporary with a beginning and an end, as Galatians 3:17–19 explains, and I would also want to communicate that God’s word is sufficient, that any addition of a modern prophet is extra-biblical revelation and is not to be trusted. Hebrews 1:1–3 emphasizes that fact, and 2 Peter 1:3 and Hebrews 4:12-13 stress the Bible’s sufficiency and power. 

I remember that when I read Dale Ratzlaff’s explanation that “progressive revelation” cannot begin in error and end in truth, it was a HUGE a-ha moment. Adventism always explained EGW’s contradictions by saying she had “progressive revelation”. But a prophet of God cannot give unbiblical revelations and still be prophet of God. Saying she progressed in her understanding reveals that she could not be a true prophet, because God wouldn’t have revealed untruth in the first place. 

The two things an Adventist has to figure out are the gospel and their source of authority. The true gospel (1 Cor. 15:1–4) is different from the Adventist gospel. Adventism says Sabbath-keeping IS the mark of the saved at the end times; Scripture never says such a thing. Adventism says obeying the law is required for salvation; the Bible says BELIEVING is the requirement. 

And of course, authority: is it the Bible alone, or the Bible plus EGWs commentary?

I might consider just asking her to read through Galatians with you. If you don’t live close, perhaps do a chapter a week individually and talk about it before starting the next one. Galatians really does expose the Adventist heresy. 

I’m so thankful that the Lord is revealing Himself to you so clearly! He is faithful and will give you words as you talk to your sister.

 

Great Controversy banjo

I love the podcast this week on the Great Controversy. It exposes one of the primary reasons why Seventh-day Adventism is a false Christian denomination. When I heard the banjo music I had to chuckle.  The song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Calvary)” might have worked also.

—VIA EMAIL