KELSIE PETERSEN
While visiting family this past weekend, I happened upon a publication for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. In it was an article taken from Ted Wilson’s sermon at the General Conference session in June of this year, to be printed in three parts, entitled “Hold Fast What You Have.” This week, I will be going through the first part of his sermon, paying attention not only to what Elder Wilson says, but also to what he DOESN’T say. I hope this will give some insight into the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, ways Adventism manipulates words to paint the picture they want people to see, rather than the picture people need to see: the truth about Adventism, and the truth about the pure Gospel.
You can view the sermon on YouTube by searching the title I provided above, but I have been unable to find an online version of the full print magazine. I emailed, asking if it was accessible, but have not received a reply.
Introduction
I won’t provide the text of the entire introduction, as it is lengthy; rather, I will supply a brief summary with my commentary.
Despite starting out sounding quite “Christian,” admonishing listeners and readers to “believe completely in the unchanging Holy Word of God,” the introduction quickly goes sideways when Elder Wilson states outright, “From the Holy Word we understand Seventh-day Adventists to be God’s called remnant church with prophetic identity—it is a unique movement, with a unique message, on a unique heavenly mission.”
Now, I understand that there is some controversy surrounding Wilson, and he is said to be a better representative of the more conservative parts of the membership, but I have to say I don’t know that I have, personally, come across such a clear statement of what we know is true about how Adventists view themselves: as THE remnant church. It was also interesting to me that he went on to ALSO call it not a church, but a “movement.” It’s term-swapping such as this that allows them to wiggle out of some uncomfortable situations when people attempt to expose them.
The remainder of the introduction reinforces Wilson’s assertion that Seventh-day Adventists, in particular, have been “chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world…He has made them His representatives and has called them to be ambassadors for him in the last work of salvation,” quoting Ellen White from Testimonies for the Church, vol 7, p 138.
The next paragraph leads into his list of “vital truths” and reads as follows:
Regardless of the many obstacles we face, let’s hold fast our belief in God’s Word and His love for His church. His church will not fail; it will go through to the end under the power of the Holy Spirit. In these last days of earth’s history and in response to our earnest prayers, God will pour out His Spirit on all who humble themselves and conform their lives to his will as expressed in His Holy word and His instructions in the Spirit of Prophecy, showing His infinite love for the human race (all emphasis mine).
To the unsuspecting Christian reader, the phrase “His church” would not seem problematic. Outside of Adventism, within Christianity, “the church” is widely understood to be comprised of those who are born again, not of those belonging to a particular denomination or group (though I know far too many other groups still believe theirs is the “right” one). But if we look back at Wilson’s opening statements, we see that he is speaking from a perspective that the Seventh-day Adventist church is THE church, THE remnant that will remain until the end. This idea is what he is referring to in the above paragraph.
The assertion that God will pour out His Spirit on those who “conform their lives” to the will of God tips their hand to their belief that the work is ours. In Adventism, it is WE who conform our lives.
The assertion that God will pour out His Spirit on those who “conform their lives” to the will of God tips their hand to their belief that the work is ours. In Adventism, it is WE who conform our lives. In Christianity, our lives are transformed by Christ because of the new birth, because we have been made alive IN Christ. Of course, Adventism will try to tell you that they don’t believe in works salvation, but when it comes down to it, it has simply learned how to avoid the troublesome phrases and wording.
In the last phrase of this paragraph, we see a hint of what is to come. “…His Holy Word AND His instructions in the Spirit of Prophecy…” (emphasis mine). A theme that will be repeated many times in the 25 vital truth points Wilson addresses is a reference to the “and” of that phrase. There are very few occasions where Elder Wilson refers to the Bible without an “and” to the writings of Ellen G. White. While he states in one place that the Bible is the “only rule of faith,” the “buts” and the “ands” scattered throughout the sermon paint a much different picture.
Vital Truths According to Ted Wilson
Here, according to GC President Ted Wilson, are the 25 most important truths to which members of the Seventh-day Adventist church must hold fast. I will address the first ten in this article and will cover the rest next week. Interestingly, he deals with 25 important truths, not 28 as listed in the Fundamental Beliefs.
1. The biblical truth that the God-head is constituted by three divine, equal persons who have existed, and will exist, from eternity to eternity.
I’m interested as to why Mr. Wilson decided to lead with this particular belief. The issue of Adventism and the Trinity is a slippery one, one that would take more room than I have to fully explore. Despite their learning and evolving verbiage, the Adventist view of the Trinity remains problematic, at best. I will refer you to a blog article written by Colleen Tinker in 2018 as well as a presentation from the Former Adventist Fellowship conference in 2015, entitled “The Trouble With The Trinity,” by Christian apologist Rob Bowman. These resources will lay out some of the main problems with the Adventist view of the Trinity.
2. Simplicity in Christian lifestyle, personal dress, conduct in church life, and everyday activities.
Elder Wilson didn’t offer any further explanation or reasoning for the vitalness of this particular point. I found myself wishing he had, as all of these terms are heavily loaded with Adventist “special” meaning. As I read through the list, that familiar feeling of “be careful what you say and do, everyone is watching” returns. In Adventism, the inside of a person is often judged and measured by the outward living of the standards and principles. As a former Adventist, I “see” a lot of unspoken messages here about making sure you are meeting the approval of those around you, that they are looking favorably upon your appearance and behavior, and that in the areas of church life, you are not “rocking the boat.”’
3. Biblical truths and their relevancy for today, despite persecution. Avoid issues that are distractions from God’s last-day three angels’ messages.’Hold fast to the pure Word of God, not allowing any syncretistic or mystic aberrant theological beliefs into the Seventh-day Adventist church (see 2 Peter 2:1; Heb 13:8,9) (emphasis mine).
Notice that all Biblical truth, in his estimation, revolves around not the Gospel, but “God’s last-day three angels’ messages.” Now, many Adventists, when asked, will say that this message of the three angels IS the Gospel, but when pressed, they will not be able to give much more detail. Often, I have found myself in a circular conversation:
Me: What is the three angels’ messages?
Adventist: It is the gospel.
Me: What is the gospel?
Adventist: It is the three angels’ messages.
As an Adventist, I heard much ABOUT the three angels’ message, but I would not have been clear about what the “message” was that the angels were bringing. I had been born again for quite some time while still innocently believing that Adventism just needed some tweaks to reach its full potential, when I actually turned to Revelation and read the passage in chapter 14. Having heard and understood the real Gospel, I remember being extremely disappointed with what I read, not really understanding how they got “all that” out of those few words. Without the true Gospel, the three angels’ messages are devoid of meaning. The fact that the president of the Seventh-day Adventist church couches his idea of foundational Adventist truth in this passage is not surprising but somehow still shocking to me.’
As an Adventist, I heard much ABOUT the three angels’ message, but I would not have been clear about what the “message” was that the angels were bringing.
“Syncretistic” is a word I didn’t immediately understand. While the original use of the Greek word for “syncretism” was to join together in opposition of a common enemy, modern usage suggests the fusion of two or more thought systems and is usually applied to politics, philosophy, or religion. Other definitions I found gave a sense of trying to blend two things that were diametrically opposed to one another, like blending oil and water, if you will. Wilson’s assertion that syncretistic beliefs not be allowed into the Seventh-day Adventist church (note the commitment to keeping the church “pure”) harkens back to his noting in the introduction that the Seventh-day Adventist church, as an organization, IS the remnant of Revelation, and this point is a further reminder that it must be kept set apart, untainted, in anticipation of the second coming.
While Wilson does not specify what he means by “biblical truths”, by examining the whole of this sermon, the distinct beliefs of Adventism, such as the obligatory seventh-day Sabbath and the spirit of prophecy are apparent in his top priorities.
4. Your careful observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, commemorating biblical Creation accomplished by God recently in six literal days. In humility and respect, do not allow anyone to negatively influence you to believe anything but Bible truth that tells us this earth was created by God, by His Word, in six literal, consecutive, 24-hour days, recently. The Spirit of Prophecy, which I believe was inspired just as God inspired all prophets, tells us this earth was created “about,” or “around,” 6,000 years ago. I believe that statement. Why would you be a Seventh-day Adventist, if in the very fourth commandment God tells us to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy (and in reality, the Lord allows us to work six days and the Bible tells us he took six days to create, capping it with the blessed, seventh-day Sabbath)—why would you keep the seventh-day Sabbath literally if God were telling you a big fable? Be a Seventh-day Adventist because you believe God created this earth in six literal, consecutive days, recently. Hold on to your faith (emphasis mine).
Here we see several interesting things. There has been controversy in the church in the past couple of decades over the age of the earth. As Elder Wilson explains here, a literal six-day creation is absolutely vital to the underpinning of their belief in the continuing seventh-day Sabbath, and rejecting that as truth either destroys the rationale for it, or else requires one to live as an Adventist with (even more) cognitive dissonance. Once again, Wilson presses for strict protection of beliefs that undergird the distinctives of Adventism.
The second item of note here is his almost-but-not-quite admission that he holds Ellen White on equal authority with the writers of the Bible. If you read carefully, you notice that he is careful not to include reference to the Bible but a generic reference to “all prophets,” without qualifying what he means. It is interesting to me that Adventism continues to use Ellen White’s writings as a “confirmation” of what Scripture says, as if the Word of God needs extra “prophetic” corroboration to lend credibility. In their effort to ensure they are not elevating Ellen White’s authority over that of the Bible, they inadvertently set her writings up as something that is needed to ADD reliability and trustworthiness to Scripture, a stance which ultimately weakens the authority of the Word of God.
His final comment in this section gave me pause: “Be a Seventh-day Adventist because you believe God created this earth in six literal, consecutive days, recently.” In the Adventist worldview, it all comes back to the Sabbath. Being an Adventist is not readily related to the Gospel, to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but to a day. They will give lip service, as we saw in the introduction, but ultimately, it all comes back to the Sabbath.
5. A simple, healthy lifestyle, including a plant-based diet according to biblical and Spirit of Prophecy counsel.
Here again, we see the spirit of prophecy being used to bolster Scripture to support their unique beliefs. Of course, they have their Biblical texts they use to support their belief in the necessity of a vegetarian diet, but as we who have studied out of the church know, there is a solid case for eating what the Lord has given to us for food, including meat. The fact that two different arguments can be made (though maybe not sound arguments) from Scripture, but the writings of Ellen White “confirm” one of them once again reaffirms their subtle stance that Scripture is insufficient and needs to be “backed up” by a modern-day prophet.
6. The unity in the church that God provides to all who focus their lives on Christ and His full biblical truth. “Christ is leading out a people and bringing them into the unity of the faith, that they may be one, as He is one with the Father. Differences of opinion must be yielded, that all may come into union with the body, that they may have one mind and one judgement” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 324). Let’s be unified in Christ (emphasis mine).
After asserting that this vital truth is based on “full” biblical truth (which trained eyes will recognize as pointing to the distinctives of Adventism), Mr. Wilson goes on to quote Ellen White, instead of the Bible, once again using the extra-biblical authority of Adventism to prop up his point, rather than letting Scripture speak for itself.
The quote from Testimonies for the Church is an interesting one, as I have seen verbiage like this used multiple times as a way to control people who “get out of line.” Those who are not following along are accused of causing division because they have honest, legitimate questions, and passages such as this are often used to compel compliance. When you add in the authority of “inspired,” the pressure mounts for the questioning member, and often they will yield. While I fully understand the importance of unity in foundational, primary doctrines and beliefs, the mere fact that there are 25 points in this sermon on “vital truths” points to a much more intricate system, requiring “unity” on many, many secondary and tertiary views and issues. I think many of us who have left the church have memories of the scuffles and conflicts over the never-ending list of “things we must agree on.”
7. God’s biblical institution of marriage between one man and one woman. God’s word confirms biblical marriage, biblical human sexuality, and the biblical family as instituted by God Himself at creation. The rampant sexual aberrations in the world are not condoned by the Bible and will not lead to eternal life. Sexual immorality in any form is to be submitted to God’s power to change us into His likeness. God’s ideal is to be followed through His power, to put us in a right relationship with His moral and natural laws. This is not impossible, for the Bible clearly indicates—“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolater, nor adulterers, not homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1Cor 9:11). We need to treat everyone with love and respect, and we define what is sin and what is not sin by the Word of God.
This is one of only a few of these “vital truths” where Elder Wilson does not either directly or indirectly refer to Ellen White or to the unique teachings of Adventism. While I appreciate his sticking to Scripture alone, on this point, his commentary about being in a “right relationship with His moral and natural laws” sends people back to striving to “make it,” rather than directing people to the Savior who has made it possible for us to be made spiritually alive, thus giving us a right relationship with HIM. Their continued fixation on the inferior (the extra-biblical source vs. the Bible, relationship with the law vs. relationship with the Maker of the law) continues to miss the mark, failing to point people to the most vital of all truths: The Lord Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin and the newness of life, of spiritual “aliveness” in Him.
8. Spiritual, biblical respect for church authority, showing respect for God working in His church through appropriate bodies and careful observance of Bible and Spirit of Prophecy counsel.
Here we see Wilson putting a subtle call out for support of the church structure and, ultimately, his leadership. Once again, the insinuation is that the Adventist church functions under the authority of God Himself, propped up and endorsed by their extra-biblical source, as the biblical remnant for the last days.
9. Your great appreciation, use and promotion of the Spirit of Prophecy—the writings of Ellen White—a heavenly gift for this church.
While it is not surprising that he would include this in his list of vital truths, it is still shocking to me now, as a believer, that they would be this forward in their promotion of Ellen White. Often I encounter progressive Adventists who insist that Ellen White’s writings are no longer heavily used in the church, but as an often-emphasized subject in this sermon, and in this list of “vital truth”, it is clear that the position of the church organization is quite different. This overt submission to Ellen White also reminds me of why, when we are discussing Adventism with either current Adventists or curious Christians, we need to maintain a clear delineation between AdventISM and AdventISTS. One can find a wide variety of views among Adventists, often depending on various factors, which can include geographic location, socioeconomic status, and Adventists holding those various views may spend valuable time going back and forth on what their personal views are, but when we focus on AdventISM, its stated beliefs and teachings as well as the statements and actions of leadership, we can be more effective in combating the lies.
10. Biblical church growth principles and the heavenly explanations of evangelistic growth as revealed in the Spirit of Prophecy.
This last one for this week gave me an unbidden visceral reaction as I typed it out. While I understand he was trying to pump out 25 points in one sermon, I find myself wondering what “church growth principles” he means. The picture he paints of expanding membership and influence is so opposite from an understanding of the pure gospel, focused on the true goal: for spiritually dead people to be born again and made spiritually alive; for us as believers to point to Jesus Christ and say, “Look what the Lord has done!” The gospel does not point to a program of evangelism, a mass Prophecy seminar or Total Member Involvement, but to JESUS and his finished work on the cross, that others may see their need for a Savior and turn to him for forgiveness and salvation.
Part 2 next week
- Reset: “I’m Not Good Enough” - September 19, 2024
- Unpacking My Adventist Brain - July 25, 2024
- Covenant of Greater Glory - May 30, 2024
Watching a relative SDA pastor with another relatively good sermon but besides being typically topical it is infused with EGW quotes.
I am really enjoying your theme of what Ted Wilson teaches. Even though I’m was a fourth generation Adventist and was “trained” in Adventist schools, I walked away (ran rather) at age 16 back in 1967. Therefore it is through articles such as this I am able to catch up and stay currant in what is happening in the Adventist organization.
Correction: I quit Adventism in 1957 to live a worldly life. It wasn’t until ten years later I began to learn what was wrong with Adventism.