We got mail…

Learning Things I Overlooked

Your magazine helped my daughter and me to resolve some questions about the law—what it meant to magnify the law while not living under it. Romans can be confusing, but your publications are clarifying the Scriptures that seem to be contradictory. 

I’ve learned a lot from all the writers and lessons and letters. The Sabbath School lesson commentaries are wonderful, bringing out things I would have overlooked. Canright’s book chapters are so reassuring as well. 

I wish all my Adventist ex-family would just read the truth! I keep praying. Thank you for all the hard work you are all doing to get the truth out.

—WAYNESBORO, PA

 

Podcasts Helping Me See Adventism

My husband and I are so enjoying your podcasts on Inspecting Adventist Beliefs! It’s interesting that after 28 years out of that religion, hearing the phrases that so commonly were used helps me see how perfectionism and moral influence theory go hand in hand. I see why people listening to their talks week after week are unfortunately and sadly so deceived.

Thanks for sharing; may more people than ever be set free.

—BIXBY, OK

 

How Perfect Must We Be?

The Seventh-day Adventist church through Ellen White says that we must be perfect and holy without a stain of sin in our characters when Jesus returns for his people. This belief causes people to despair and fear for their salvation and to and wonder if they will make it. 

If we are still imperfect when Jesus comes again, are we lost? I understand that God won’t allow sin to enter Heaven. Ellen White said that there will be no character transformation at the second coming. Will Jesus change us so that we are perfect and fit for Heaven? People who accept Jesus in childhood/teenage years may have many decades to grow spiritually, but those who accept Him in mid life/old age have far less time to grow spiritually and may still be far from perfect at the second coming. Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated. 

—VIA EMAIL

Response: Adventism taught us a false gospel. It was not a gospel of believing in the Lord Jesus and His finished work of atonement; it was a work of learning to keep the law. 

Acts 16:31 states the requirements for salvation so simply: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…”

When the Jews were asking Jesus what the work of God was, He responded in John 6:29: “This is the work of God, that you believe in the One whom He has sent.”

That’s it. We are SAVED when we believe that Jesus died for our sins according to Scripture; He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to Scripture (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). What Adventism did not teach us is that we are born spiritually dead and must be born again—literally born of God. When we believe in Jesus and in His finished work, trusting Him with all of our sin, He gives us a new heart and a new spirit, and He seals us with His Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14)! 

Then He cleans us up. We have a new position in Christ, and we have new power and new potential. The Holy Spirit in us changes us. We can understand Scripture. We are convicted when we sin, and the Lord Jesus teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to trust His word and to honor Him. He teaches us to trust Him! We are sanctified by being placed in Christ, set apart for His service, and then we are sanctified in an ongoing way as the Lord grows us in Jesus and in trusting Him. 

We are not saved on the basis of our works; we are saved on the basis of belief or unbelief. We are either dead in sin, citizens of the domain of darkness (see Eph. 2:1-3 and Col. 13), or we are born again, born of God, and transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col 1:13). 

Our obedience will not be perfect because we still have a “law of sin” in our flesh (Romans 7). But the Holy Spirit will keep teaching us. The Father will discipline us (Heb. 12:1–6), and our Father will complete what He begins in us (Phil 1:6). It is not our behavior that saves us or causes us to be lost. It is our belief or unbelief. We are either dead in sin and condemned in unbelief, or we trust and believe in Jesus and His finished work and are born again (see John 3:18; 5:24; Ephesians 2:1–10). 

Here is an article that may help you to understand the biblical teaching of salvation: He Was Raised So You Will Never Die

I also want to challenge you to copy the book of Galatians into a notebook, paying attention to each word and praying that the Lord will teach you what He wants you to know.