Dazed and Confused
I want to thank you for all the resources you guys put out for us every week. They really are a blessing to us.
I couldn’t really put my finger on my concern before, but now I know I’ve been experiencing cognitive dissonance since coming out…
I came to the conclusion that the Brazilian Adventist “offshoot” I’d been a part of really is cultic, for they themselves teach that the seventh-day Sabbath and the dietary laws are necessary for “maintaining salvation”, in traditional Seventh-day Adventist fashion. I guess doublespeak and doublethink is the norm in our former milieu, unfortunately.
However, there is a well-known Brazilian discernment and apologetics ministry (CACP) that puts out content with the intention of preaching to those inside cultic organizations, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter Day Saints, Seventh-day Adventists, and others that are exclusive to Brazil, and they have recently posted two videos on why they don’t think this specific Adventist “offshoot” is a cult. The reason given is that they don’t hold EGW’s writings as authoritative for interpreting Scripture. This apologetics pastor has many friends within the movement and has been invited to preach in many of their gatherings.
Seeing him take this position made me angry, frustrated, and a bit depressed for these reasons:
- Colleen has already laid out for me the reasons why this offshoot still holds to EGW’s worldview even though they don’t read her stuff;
- I myself have experienced years of doublespeak, legalism, and confusion within the movement;
- The video he used for “proof” that the offshoot isn’t cultic has a comment in it by the owner of the channel himself stating: “Keeping the Sabbath doesn’t save, but living in disobedience to this commandment may bring condemnation as much as any other sin would.” I mean, what else is there to say?
- It’s frustrating and depressing to see how the organization, in classic Adventist fashion, portrays itself in a different manner when it is speaking to evangelicalism. They selectively make public the beliefs that separate them from their cultic roots in Seventh-day Adventism, but they conceal the ones they preserved that would make Christianity see them as cultic.
- The pastor said the institution is heterodox instead of cultic, which reminded me of how Walter Martin was deceived by the Adventist movement.
That’s the reason for the email’s subject—I’m actually “Dazed and Confused” as to the nature of this movement. But it isn’t just that; the fact that Christianity struggles to see the issues with Adventism is confusing and frustrating. It makes me feel like I’m the bad guy, the legalist, the blasphemer for speaking out against this. If even trustworthy apologetics ministries in my country say that this movement isn’t a cult, then what should I believe?
I’m writing in hopes that you’ll have wise counsel for navigating this tricky situation in which I find myself.
—VIA EMAIL
Editor’s Response
I understand 100%. What you are feeling is EXACTLY what I have felt for several years and still feel as I try to address many Christians on the subject of Adventism.
Here’s where I have landed. First, you are partly experiencing the stages of grief. Realizing that what you loved and believed was a counterfeit is disruptive at every level of your existence, including questioning your own discernment and sanity. We experience every stage of grief as we exit: bargaining, depression, anger, denial, and ultimately acceptance—in no particular order, and often over and over again for a period of time.
Second, I have had to realize that my experience and understanding are REAL and are defined by God’s word. Without the foundation of Scripture, the words of this group would be very hard to criticize, but with the worldview behind the words, you can see from Scripture that they cannot believe their own words and also believe their physicalist, free-will worldview. The Christian words they say do not fit with an Adventist worldview.
If Christians do not understand this fact, and many do not, it should not shake your own conviction. They do NOT know what you know. All too many apologists who study the cults actually study the words of the cultists themselves, and they do not go under the surface to understand the worldview. Many apologists believe this approach is “scientific” and accurate because they are going straight to the “source”: the cult’s own material and personnel. But that idea is a fallacy. When a person leaves a false religion, Scripture reveals the warped understandings they had, and the “former” begins to understand WHY he couldn’t stay. Apologists who do not rely on former members’ testimonies are missing a major piece of their analytical puzzle.
The apologist you mention has apparently done what Walter Martin originally did: he believed their words and their material. Martin didn’t realize for nearly 30 years that the Adventists essentially lied to him, that the way they presented themselves to him and the book they published (Questions on Doctrine) changed the wording with private meanings so Martin would think they were orthodox.What they did was false and did not represent the organization. Even though those men may have wanted the organization to change to fit their new wording, as long as they held onto EGW, the organization absolutely would NOT change because to do so would have been to depart from EGWs original work.
You have to know this: you will continually bump into Christians who look at you as if you have three eyes or two heads: they think they KNOW more about Adventism than you do because they can be “objective”. Many will accuse you of “having an axe to grind”, or of overreacting because you were so harmed by the organization. You know these accusations are false, and you have to hold onto the Lord Jesus and His word to keep you stable. Those who DO understand and agree with you are those who are willing to look below the surface, to listen to formers, to even study with members and see how they treat Scripture. You have to know that the Lord Jesus has revealed Himself to you, and don’t doubt that your own experience is true. Scripture confirms what you once were, what you once believed, and what you now know is truth. Even if important people disagree, you still have to know that you know what you know!
In the end, we can’t get everyone to see what we see and to agree with our assessment. Many will come to see over time, but many won’t. Actually, in many ways, I believe this phenomenon shows me how it is possible for people professing Christianity to be deceived. They DO make you feel like the bad guy; I know this feeling well! But you know the Lord, and you know what you couldn’t know inside that worldview, and they can’t remove the truth of your experience. I believe this is one of the ways we pick up our cross for the Lord and bear it. He gives us this responsibility of telling the truth about something that other people don’t want to believe. But it needs to be known, and ultimately, the Lord opens eyes. We don’t.
We keep on doing what God places in front of us to do, and we trust Him for wisdom. We will be misunderstood and even maligned, but the people inside that movement are in eternal danger, and you are one of the few who understand what they need that they do not have. You have to keep acting on the truth God gives you.
We keep saying the truth; if people become hostile, we stop talking to those people. Meanwhile, we don’t give up and we don’t compromise. Adventism and its offshoots are not Christian. They have the wrong nature of man and the wrong Jesus and a false gospel. Period. They can say Christian phrases to Christians to deceive them, but they are merely lying to those people and to themselves. They are continuing the deceptive methods that created this religion.
I resonate with your frustration and depression. I have often felt those things. But you know Adventism, you know this offshoot, and you KNOW JESUS. He and those are not compatible, and you KNOW this to be true. Do not be discouraged. The Lord has revealed this to you!
Help!
I have a sister who isAdventist. I need help defending why I don’t believe the way she does. Help!
—VIA YOUTUBE
Editor’s Response
Here is an article that should help: What Is Seventh-day Adventism?
Christians Do Whatever They Want
What is the new covenant then? Freeing us from no law? You sound like most of modern Christianity “We are not under the law;” let’s just do whatever we want. Once saved always saved…
—VIA YOUTUBE
Editor’s Response
The new covenant is the one Jesus initiated in His blood, not according to the law. I have an assignment for you: read the book of Galatians every day for a month (it’s short), and ask the Lord to show you what He wants you to know. Concurrently, get a notebook and begin, a few verses at a time, to literally copy the book of Hebrews into that notebook. Use no outside commentaries; simply ask the Lord to teach you His word and to show you what is true and real. You cannot go wrong immersing yourself in Scripture while praying to know what God is saying to us.
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