What Are Some EGW Heresies?
I worked exclusively in Christian elementary schools for 25 years. I am not a former Adventist. I have become neighborhood friends with the nicest young family. I tutor the father once a week in English, so I am developing a relationship with the whole family. And yes, they are Adventists. Might you have a list of four or five things that Ellen G. White taught that are contrary to Scripture. Please include the references. I want to be very gentle with them and slowly show them what the Bible says. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: It’s hard to list “things” EGW said that were contrary to Scripture because her heresies are interwoven throughout their doctrines and are subtle. Adventists have arguments for most Christian rebuttals, and it’s really hard to answer them unless one understands their worldview.
That being said, I’ll just mention a few to you, but these are likely to be dismissed by your Adventist friends because they have arguments against them.
First, the investigative judgment is nowhere in Scripture, but Adventists have created ways to insist Jesus is in heaven now conducting an investigation of forgiven sins, demonstrating that God is fair.
Second, they believe in physicalism—that humans have no immaterial part of themselves that continues after death. They will argue that a person “sleeps” at death, but they actually believe that the person’s spirit is their breath, and when a person dies, the body goes into the ground and the person ceases to exist. They remain a memory in God’s mind, and at the resurrection He creates a new body and essentially “downloads” [my word] the memory of the person into the new body.
Third, they believe the seventh-day Sabbath is the seal of God (some now say the “sign of the seal”) and marks all who will be saved when Jesus comes back. Going to church on Sunday is the mark of the beast, and during the time of trouble Christians will hunt and kill Sabbath-keepers when the Sunday Law goes into effect, and governments give people permission to eliminate the Sabbath-keepers.
Fourth, they believe Jesus is Michael the Archangel. They SAY that Michael “is just another name for Jesus”, but they insist that Jude 9 describes Jesus as Michael fighting over Moses’ body. If you read Jude 9, though, it’s clear that Michael defers to Jesus, but the Adventist Jesus is not God Almighty, so they live with this inconsistency.
They believe Jesus could have failed and could have sinned, that His ministry was to show us how to keep the law and to vindicate the law and God’s reputation (back to the investigative judgment).
I’m going to link an article for you that might help with the big picture: What Is Seventh-day Adventism?
I also urge you to listen to the Former Adventist Podcast. Our recent series on the 28 Fundamental Beliefs might be helpful to you.
Self-righteous, Sanctimonious, and Sententious
I just read the article in your magazine entitled “You Are Evil”! I’m sorry it has come to that. Those are strong words in the title. I don’t believe you are evil, but reading some of the articles you and your authors have written, I can see why someone would respond that way. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s no different from what the writers in your magazine say concerning the Adventist denomination.
I agree with the person that wrote the article in You Got Mail. What you teach and preach has been taught in the Adventist church for years. Old covenant, blood was shed once a year. New covenant, we can come to Christ everyday, all day, and talk to Him one on one. Jesus died for our sins. He shed his blood for us. End of story. The Adventist church has always taught and believed righteous by faith. Christ shed his blood for us, so when we accept Him as our personal Savior, at that point we are counted righteous in his eyes.
For you to say Adventism teaches a different gospel and has a different Jesus is ludicrous. I can only hope that was a slip of the tongue. I don’t recall that being said about Lutherans, LDS, Methodists, and others in your articles. Why would you put yourself on that level? All through my 67 years of life, never once have I heard such stupidity come from other denominations. The saying is true: Satan can have you by the tongue and you don’t even know it!
Reading the articles and responses, one thing stands out is your Self-Righteous attitude you and the circle of formers have.
“Self-righteousness, also called sanctimoniousness, sententiousness and holier-than-thou attitudes is a feeling or display of (usually smug) moral superiority derived from a sense that one’s beliefs, actions, or affiliations are of greater virtue than those of the average person. Self-righteous individuals are often intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others. A self-righteous person might also be described as expressing disinterest in seeking an unselfish or objective standard of right and wrong, independently of how they interact with other people.”
Your condescending attitude you and your writers display is very attractive. Makes me want to give everything I have to you and follow your very twisted 95% belief that you teach. I did give you 5% credit on some things that we agree on.
You grew up in the church as most formers have. You were taught by your parents. Let me ask you a question, who is held responsible for teaching us the “So called cult way” as you have stated many times in your articles? So let’s get something ironed out; Adventism is not a cult. It never has been. I realize some say yes and some say no, but I am sure you will stick with the ones that say it is. [you have] absolutely no proof that it’s a cult.
So let’s ask ourselves, what would Christ say or do? I would bet that what you have said and discussed and the manner in which you have done things would displease Christ.
You have the right to believe the way you do, and I will continue to believe as I always have. At least we agree on 5%. Not all is lost. I’m glad God is the judge.
1 Corinthians 13:13. There are Faith, Hope and Love. The greatest of these is Love. That’s what it’s all about. You can have everything right, but if you don’t have Love, it’s all in vain.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing. I do not intend to try to change your mind. I have one primary reaction to your email, though: I wonder if you have ever really read what we have written about the Adventist worldview. Adventists do not have a biblical, Christian worldview. Even though they say that Jesus died for our sins and we can now have righteousness by faith, their definitions of those terms are not biblical nor are they the definitions held by biblical Christianity.
The Bible says that Jesus completed the atonement on the cross by dying once for all. His blood shed on the cross cleanses us from all sin when we trust and believe in Him—all our past, present, and future sins. ALL sin. The righteousness that is by faith (by the way, the Bible does not talk about “righteousness by faith” but the “righteousness that is by faith”) is the actual righteousness of God applied to us when we BELIEVE and trust Jesus’ finished work. We do not BECOME righteous by practicing faith and prayer; we are DECLARED righteous when we believe. Our sanctification, then, is the product of our imputed righteousness and does not “keep us saved” or help us qualify for salvation. It is a fruit of salvation.
Adventism teaches that sanctification is part of the process of being saved, and the “righteousness of Christ” taught by Adventism is the imparted righteousness of becoming increasingly obedient. Biblical sanctification, however, is the gift of God to those who have been made alive in Jesus, their dead spirits brought to life.
I actually know what Jesus would say and do, because He showed us in His word how he spoke to the Pharisees who believed they were the only “religion” on earth living according to God’s will. Jesus showed them that they actually did not know Scripture, and when the Pharisees and scribes persisted in their unbelief in Him, He called them “whited sepulchers” and a “brood of vipers” (Mt. 23) and the children of “your father the devil” (Jn. 8:44). Jesus did not try to comfort the Jews by telling them they had the truth and were doing the best they knew to do. No, He exposed their unbelief by demonstrating that He was the fulfillment of all their prophecies, and they were refusing to believe that those prophecies were being fulfilled through such an unattractive, politically incorrect Messiah.
Acting in love does not involve soothing people who are believing a lie into believing that their beliefs are benign. Being sincere does not save us. Being born again through the hearing of the true gospel of our salvation is how we are saved. We have to be willing to give up everything we love for the sake of Jesus if He reveals to us that we have been believing falsehood. Jesus told us to love as He loved—and He was willing to give up His life to save the lives of the people who believed Him. His love cannot be separated from His wrath and judgment; God’s attributes are inseparable from one another. His love cannot be separated from His wrath; His mercy cannot be separated from His judgment. When we act in love, we act in the love of God—not human “love” which often approves of people’s unbelief in order to make them feel accepted. God’s love, however, never acts in approval of unbelief. Rather, His love exposes evil and reveals His own sacrifice which is the only way we can be saved. His blood literally paid for human sin; it does not transfer sin from us to heaven.
God’s love requires that we help others see their sin so that they can trust Jesus’ shed blood and His resurrection.
What Is the True Day of Rest?
How can I understand these verses? (Romans 2:13; 7:12 and 22; 1 Corinthians 11:2)…
Last year I visited the Adventists for more than three months on every Sabbath and also read many books because I wanted to get to know God’s true day of rest. I studied everything and prayed for the truth and found it.
There are two evidences: the historical and the biblical. In the old Luther Bible of 1545, 1534, 1546, and 1547, the phrase is not “first day of the week” but Sabbat.
If you compare your modern English translations you’ll find the same mistake. But in the translation by Bishop in 1568, in the Coverdale Bible of 1535, in the Great Bible of 1539 you find in these verses the word Sabbat: Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2.9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1.19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2…
But I don’t keep the sabbat for salvation because I’ve already been saved since 2015.
I no longer go to the Adventist church and am looking for a biblical one.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Those verses you asked about must be read IN CONTEXT. In Romans 2:13, Paul is addressing the Jews and pointing out that their standing as God’s people who had the oracles and law of God did not give them preferable status. They are just as dead in sin and condemned as are the gentiles. Verse 13, in context, is saying that the fact that they have the law does not boost their standing. Even though they live under the law, they are condemned if they break the law—and every single one of them broke the law. Having the law (which the gentiles did NOT have) did not give them a better standing before God. Only true, full obedience could justify them.
Furthermore, this verse is not referring just to the The Commandments. It is referring to the ENTIRE law, the Mosaic covenant, as given in Exodus and Leviticus and reiterated in Deuteronomy. It included all the laws of sacrifice, holy days, rituals, punishments and cleansing, and laws of separation including not mixing linen and wool in fabric and not boiling a kid in its mother’s milk. The law is never separated into parts in Scripture; it is ALWAYS a whole unit containing 613 specific commands. The Ten Commandments were the actual words of the Old Covenant (Ex. 34:27-28), and the rest of the laws explained how to live by the Ten. You couldn’t keep the Ten without keeping the others as well. Moreover, the Mosaic law couldn’t even exist without the levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7). If the levitical priesthood is gone, there HAS to be a CHANGE of the law (Heb. 7:12).
So, Paul is saying that Jews have no advantage towards salvation over gentiles just because they have the law. They all break the law, and if they claim they are living by the law (v 12), they will be judged by the law. The law says, if you break one command, you break the whole law—and breaking the law demands DEATH. The law condemns every single Jew. Gentiles, however, do not have the law. If they acknowledge God and unconsciously live by the moral principles of the law, God will judge them according to their response to His sovereign knowledge of their personal faith on the day of judgment (v. 14–16).
Again, Romans 7:12 and 22 must be read IN CONTEXT. You cannot take verses out of their context and apply them to an idea for support of that idea. Romans 7 is about born-again believers still having a “law of sin” in their flesh AFTER their spirits have been born again. So, as Paul explains in this chapter, the born again spirit loves God’s law (and that does not equate the Ten Commandments but the actual character of God Himself; His commands are not the same for all people, but they never differ in principle). Even though we love God’s law/will as born again believers, we still have a law of sin in our flesh, and we sin and do things we do not wish to do. This fact, however, does not condemn us if we are Christ’s. Paul ends this section by asking, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” and breaks into thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 8:1 gives the joyous answer: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!”
I’m going to give you an assignment. First, get a notebook and begin, verse by verse, to literally copy the book of Galatians. It has been said that Galatians is the same gospel message as that of Romans, but Galatians (which is shorter) reveals Paul’s heart, while Romans reveals Paul’s intellectual systematization of the gospel. Get a notebook and copy the book into the notebook. When you finish, move to Romans and do the same thing. It is very important to read In Context. If you yank verses out of their context, you will not understand what Paul is saying.
Understanding the difference between the Old and the New covenants is the heart of the Sabbath issue.
- April 27–May 3, 2024 - April 25, 2024
- We Got Mail - April 25, 2024
- April 20–26, 2024 - April 18, 2024
A few ways SDA teachings diminish Jesus:
The so called “Investigative Judgement” doctrine/belief subtly makes Jesus very “small.” He somehow needs to go over records to decide if someone will be saved, or not. What happened to His Omniscience? It apparently takes Him a lot of time to do this and when He passes from reviewing records of dead people He will move to the living, and then He will also supposedly look at your life, right then, when He is determining whether or not to save you. He is apparently now no longer able to exist outside of earth time because He’s been doing this since 1844. What happened to omnipresence?
SDA’s (at least the churches I attended my whole life) made very little of Resurrection weekend. They said…Wow! Even in Death, Jesus kept the Sabbath! As if the Creator of all things bowed to the Sabbath! They make nothing at all of His resurrection, instead, they essentially seem to enjoy and focus on His death instead of His resurrection.. another way they subtly try to diminish Him.
Jesus created a new and living way, a new covenant, but you will never hear an Adventist praising Him for that. Their religion (which I was in for 56 years) does everything it can to pretend like Jesus coming to earth and dying and being resurrected did nothing more than buy Him the “option” of saving some people, depending on their behavior and works.
In my experience as an Adventist, I did not know what Jesus was “good for.” He lived a perfect life, without sin, therefore, I was supposed to be able to do that… but I never could. He was just an example, not my substitute.
The less a person understands what really happened at the cross, the more likely they are to be deceived. Adventists understand very little of the cross. They cannot focus on it, because if they did, they would come to understand that Jesus instituted a New Covenant! He can do that! He is God! He is not tied to the Old Covenant. They desperately ignore the New Covenant.
Sabbath keeping is not required; an all knowing, all powerful God, The Word, The great I AM, does not need to spend time investigating anyone. He knew all of us long before we existed. He calls those who are His and He knows us.
No one can afford to be lazy about their own salvation, letting others, or their religion lull them into complacency. Please, please as an Adventist, be willing to consider the possibility that you may not know everything, and that the church you love may have embraced teachings that diminish Jesus. Anyone or anything, any church that teaches anything to diminish Jesus cannot be true, that’s according to God the Father.
I am grateful for Life Assurance Ministries, Richard and Colleen Tinker, Dale Ratzlaff, DM Canright, Nikki Stevens and all the rest who fight the good fight against false teachings. I know it is hard to hear What they say. It is hard to realize you’ve been deceived. It is very hard to change religious beliefs, especially when we are older. It has been hard to learn to eat what I used to think was unclean. It was hard to leave friends in my old church. It IS hard to be the only person in my family who is t an Adventist. It was hard to hear my best friend tell me I was being deceived by the devil when I left the church.
I am here to say I would do it all again a thousand times over just to have the assurance I have now of my salvation. I absolutely know I was called out of that church and I will be forever thankful to the Good Lord for doing it.