Clear Answers
My husband and I and our adult children left the Adventist church 22 years ago. Thank you for answers to many questions that we had. Your Former Adventist Fellowship is so clear on covenants! Blessings to all of you! We can now refer our Adventist friends to you.
—VIA USPS
Just What I Needed
Hi! I am a Former (4th generation, both sides of my family) Adventist, and I was wondering if Colleen and Nikki would consider doing a podcast on the book Ellen White Under Fire by Jud Lake. My mother cannot accept my decision even though I thought I had made myself clear in the past; she left this book at my house over Thanksgiving with an unpleasant letter inside. I threw the book and the letter away; it is likely a rehash of everything I have already studied in depth, but I choose not to read anything by Adventist authors. However, I thought it might make a good podcast topic. Thank you so much for the podcast; I found it few months ago and have listened to the entire series on doctrines and many others. It has been just what I needed. Thank you.
—VIA FACEBOOK
Response: Thank you for writing! And thank you for the suggestion. Even though addressing Lake’s book would address many Adventist false arguments, we won’t likely do a podcast on it. Addressing an Adventist apologetic work only results in arguments because their claims are deceptive and riddled with half-truths and confusion. In general, we find it more effective to address their actual statements of belief and practice and show how they deviate from Scripture. We addressed EGW’s prophetic “ministry” in our podcast on FB #18, and we use EGW to contrast with Scripture in other podcasts. Addressing Lake’s book directly would not convince an Adventist, however, because we would be attempting to counter his arguments instead of actually exposing EGW. Even in their arguments Adventists are disingenuous and deceptive. Generally we find we have to go UNDERNEATH what they claim and address their worldview assumptions. Otherwise we find ourselves in no-win arguments. Does that make sense?
A Kinder, Gentler Adventism
Would you be willing to post this survey, “Disconnection from the Adventist Church”? This is an informal survey for those who were once attending but no longer attend a Seventh-day Adventist church. I’d like to hear from former Adventists, and I will be sharing insights with Southern Union pastors. I believe we can make the church a healthier place, and we need to hear from former members to do so.
—VIA FACEBOOK
Response: Our reasons for leaving are public and widely available. We will not post this survey because others have conducted similar surveys before, and the data is available on the Seventh-day Adventist Archives and Statistics website. Further, Adventism cannot reform or become a healthier place because it is a religion based upon an unbiblical view of the nature of man, a false Jesus (who could have sinned and who does not possess all the attributes of God—the SDA Jesus is not the “same substance” as the Father and the Spirit)—and the Adventist Jesus did not complete the atonement in His death, burial, and resurrection but is completing it in heaven as we speak.
These things are heresy. Further, the Adventist great controversy model and its soteriology says that at the heart of the sanctuary’s cleansing is Satan the Scapegoat. He receives the sins of the saved from JESUS and carries them out of heaven to the lake of fire where he is punished for them and for causing them. EGW specifically stated these ideas. This belief makes Satan, not Jesus, the final sin bearer for the saved.
Adventism cannot become kinder and gentler; it is founded on a false gospel with a false Jesus and with a powerful Satan at its heart. People need to LEAVE Adventism and trust Scripture and the true gospel (1 Cor 15:3, 4) with NO additions. Sabbath is not eternally sacred time. Sunday-worship does not constitute the mark of the beast at the end of time. The ONLY thing God measures is whether or not we BELIEVE in the Son and His finished work and have been born again by His Spirit.
The issue is not vindicating God or the law; it is not honoring the law and thus discovering God. The issue is this: are you dead spiritually or alive? It has nothing to do with obedience to the law. We do have immaterial spirits, and they are born dead in all of us (Eph. 2:1-3). The only exception is Jesus: He was born spiritually alive and never had to be born again. He brought life into our common grave of the domain of darkness and fulfilled the requirements of atonement for our sin. He broke death from the inside out because His sacrifice accomplished the perfect and sufficient propitiation for all human sin. He lives, and when we believe in Him, we also live and are transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col 1:13). We pass from death to life (Jn. 5:24), and we will never die.
Our spirits are made alive and are forever with the Lord, even when our bodies die. At the resurrection the Lord brings us with Jesus and resurrects us, putting our spirits and our bodies together for eternity (1 Thess. 4:13-16). No, Adventism cannot be fixed. It is a false gospel with a false Jesus. Its teachings do not make men and women ALIVE in Christ! †
- May 4–10, 2024 - May 2, 2024
- We Got Mail - May 2, 2024
- April 27–May 3, 2024 - April 25, 2024
I have got to admit after leaving Adventism at 17 and not turning back it is difficult to read your newsletter which is awesome! The difficult comes in hearing their doctrines again which I really wanted to forget! But what you do here must be read if we are to lead Adventists out lest we forget what we left! I am married to a Catholic (I got born again after I was married) and so I have had to learn much about the Roman Catholic Church as well, this too is to lead them out! Thank you so much for what you do! 1 Peter 5:1-4 is about the ‘Crown of Glory’ that fadeth not away. I know you will receive it to the glory of Jesus Christ when you cast it at the feet of Jesus! May we all run the race for this crown!