KASPARS OZOLINS
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
On Friday, January 5, 2024, Dale Ratzlaff took his last breath, closed his eyes, and opened them to behold his Savior for the first time. This is ironic, because for much of his life, as a fourth-generation Seventh-day Adventist, Dale wholeheartedly agreed with Fundamental Belief #26 which states that “death is an unconscious state for all people.” But in the kindness and providence of God, he led Dale out of Adventism and into the truth of Christianity. During his lifetime, Dale professed that truth, and now, in the presence of his Savior, he beholds truth Himself.
Leaving Adventism
As Dale indicates in his spiritual autobiography, Truth Led Me Out, a series of three “secret meetings” that he discovered in the late 1970s which radically shook his Adventist foundations. The first was the bombshell Glacier View trial of Desmond Ford and the manuscript prepared by him that decisively refuted the central pillar of Adventism: the investigative judgment. The second was a secret meeting held in the basement of the Glendale Seventh-day Adventist church on the subject of Walter Rea’s discoveries about the extensive plagiarism of Ellen G. White. The third was Dale’s discovery of the work of a five-year secret committee, commissioned in the 1950s by the then president of the General Conference, R. R. Figuhr. The president urgently wanted this committee of top SDA scholars to “fix” the problems many saw in the investigative judgment.
When people are confronted with the false teachings of Adventism, they respond in various ways. Though they may agree on the same basic problems, the actions taken can be radically different.
All this evidence, along with much other documentation, led Dale Ratzlaff and his wife Carolyn to ultimately leave the Seventh-day Adventist church for the sake of the gospel in 1981. Yet their course of action in response to such revelation was not inevitable nor even the most common one. When people are confronted with the false teachings of Adventism, they respond in various ways. Though they may agree on the same basic problems, the actions taken can be radically different.
Those who stay
As Dale became painfully aware, many denominational leaders in the church were well acquainted with the twisted doctrinal traps inherent in Seventh-day Adventism from the very beginnings of the movement. Church administrators, scholars, and many pastors privately acknowledged the serious errors in the investigative judgment, recognized as the very pillar of Adventism. The response of many such individuals, however, was to make peace with Adventism and/or argue that the definition of “Adventism” is broader and need not be as clearly defined. One such leader spoke directly to Dale and explained: “Dale we both know the doctrine [investigative judgment] is wrong. It is not our fault, and we can’t do anything about it. We are too old to go out and find employment outside of the church. Consider the church to be your employer. Do what you can with a clear conscience, and don’t make any waves.”
Others, such as Desmond Ford, well-known for the controversy he stirred in Adventism, chose to remain despite even being defrocked from the ministry.
Others, such as Desmond Ford, well-known for the controversy he stirred in Adventism, chose to remain despite even being defrocked from the ministry. Ford continued to be an active member of the organization, apparently without reservations, until late in life when he placed his membership in a Baptist church in order to apply for a position in a non-Adventist seminary. Yet he never gave up his core Adventist beliefs.
He spoke highly of Ellen G. White, believing her to be “entrusted with the gift of prophecy, a special messenger to this people.” He engaged in polemics against those who would reject her authority. His response to a question about those leaving Adventism was telling (given after he had delivered a message at the Campus Hill Adventist church in Loma Linda, California in 2008): “I agree entirely with the concern that you have that people who are forsaking very clear biblical truths like the seventh-day Sabbath and holiness of life in order to pursue their own lusts.”
Those who leave
A few years ago, David Trim, director of the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, gave a report on church membership numbers warning that people for many years had been leaving the church at alarming rates: “The losses undercut the many, many accessions we have. From 1965 to the end of 2014, the number of baptized members totaled over 33 million. Of those, over 13 million left the church—virtually four of every 10 members.” Since the very beginnings of Seventh-day Adventism, there has been a well-established trend of people leaving the church.
But leaving the church does not necessarily entail embracing the truth. Well-known internet atheist Matt Dillahunty has perceptively stated, “I want to believe as many true things and as few false things as possible.” (Whether or not atheists are actually seeking the truth is another issue.) A rejection of falsehood does not automatically lead to an acceptance of the truth. As a matter of fact, one falsehood may very well be replaced by another one. Such is the case with countless former Adventists who have left a church they discovered to be deceptive, and a religious façade. Disillusioned with religion, they drift toward agnosticism, skepticism, or even other extreme forms of belief.
In fact, the lingering effects of growing up in a false movement may end up being more lasting than they suspect. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” as the saying goes. Seventh-day Adventism does not have a monopoly on error, and this is confirmed by the clear warning of the Lord Jesus: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13–14).
[Robert Brinsmead’s] own idiosyncratic pathway led him to ultimately reject orthodox Christianity altogether.
One thinks of someone like Robert Brinsmead, a former Adventist whose theological reincarnations were diverse and quite surprising, yet his own idiosyncratic pathway led him to ultimately reject orthodox Christianity altogether. Many leave Adventism and reject its false doctrines, yet that in no way guarantees that the same individuals now love the truth.
Those who leave for the sake of the truth
After Dale finally had decided to leave the Seventh-day Adventist church with his wife Carolyn, he recounts in his book Truth Led Me Out the joy and jubilation he felt: “When I arrived home from my final trip to the conference office, I began mowing our front lawn. As I pushed the mower around the yard I would literally jump and say, ‘I’m free! I’m free!’ I did this over and over again” (p. 105). Some Adventists might want to conclude that this feeling of freedom was a sign of a sinful rejection of the very law of God, especially the seventh-day Sabbath. This was the church’s conclusion concerning D. M. Canright, the most famous early Adventist to abandon the movement: “We live in a lawless age. Men are not only trying to remove the restraints of the law of God, but to get rid of God Himself. Infidelity openly stalks in the pulpit, and skepticism sits in the pew. Men are losing their former sense of sin.”
And even in broader evangelicalism today, we often see a reaction against the traditional emphases of personal faith and a decision to trust in Christ. In recent decades, numerous evangelical scholars have made a big point of emphasizing the faithfulness of Christ, yet at the expense of Christ as the object of our faith. A popular move is to reinterpret the Greek phrase pístis Christoú (found in passages such as Galatians 2:16)to mean “the faithfulness of Christ” instead of “faith in Christ”. According to these scholars, then, we are justified by the faithfulness of Christ, and not by our faith in Christ. With this, the Reformation cry of Sola Fide (“by faith alone”) is subtly undermined. Alongside this, there is a broader evangelical tendency to characterize personal faith as a symptom of rampant American individualism. Many misconstrue statements from Christ about feeding the poor and allege that Christianity is all about communitarianism and social justice. Nowadays, not just Catholics and Adventists, but even zealous evangelicals misunderstand the book of James, thinking it to be at odds with the teaching of Paul. (Dale Ratzlaff helpfully addressed this misuse of James at the 2019 FAF conference.)
So is the traditional gospel ultimately self-centered, a simply unhealthy preoccupation with “me and Jesus?”
More pointedly: Did Dale Ratzlaff profess to “love” the truth simply in order to be free from the burden of the law? Was the simple gospel that he preached ultimately aimed at easing the broken lives of Adventists, both current and former, straining under the weight of legalism? Did Dale leave Adventism merely in order to experience some kind of novel spiritual experience?
I don’t think so.
Trusting in Jesus Christ is an act of surrender to the One who is to be preeminent in all things. It is an acknowledgement that He is the fulfillment of the law, that He is the promised seed of the woman, the Son of Abraham, and the Son of David. It is the recognition that one is destitute of righteousness and can offer nothing to God; indeed, it is to see God’s righteousness to a degree that Adventism (nor any other false religious movement) could ever see.
Dale Ratzlaff… joyfully trusted in the Son of God, providing an example to countless others who have left Adventism, not for the sake of freedom itself, but for the sake of Jesus Christ.
It is the first and foremost act of obedience commanded in Scripture and effected by the power of God: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:29). It is a realization of the shocking yet glorious truth that God indeed does “justify the ungodly” (Romans 4:5). It is a humble, empty-handed trust in the One who in love took all our sins to himself and suffered under the wrath of almighty God so that not one drop of condemnation would remain. It is the boast of the apostle Paul—not a boast in oneself, but a boast in a mighty, glorious Savior.
Dale Ratzlaff knew all of this and joyfully trusted in the Son of God, providing an example to countless others who have left Adventism, not for the sake of freedom itself, but for the sake of Jesus Christ. I thank God for Dale’s life, a sinner saved by the kindness of God who rejoiced in the simple gospel. This gospel is why all of creation proclaims: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12). †
- Adventism and Recent Developments in Evangelical Scholarship - December 12, 2024
- Gaslighting—By Adventists - October 17, 2024
- My Only Comfort in Life and Death - August 22, 2024
Thank you, Kaspars, for this beautiful tribute to Dale. I praise God with you for Dale’s integrity and love for the Lord, His gospel, and His people!
Amen, Nikki!
Thank you, Kaspars, for this true article. I read it with tears in my eyes remembering all that you mentioned in your report. Dale wanted people to know that we were truly Adventist and we became truly believers in Christ alone. I miss him so much and am also thankful that I know he is with Jesus and I will see him again.
Thank you, Carolyn!