“Adventism Is Unbelief”
COLLEEN TINKER |
The nineteenth annual Former Adventist Fellowship Conference is history—but its presentations continue to draw new audiences. Held at Redeemer Fellowship in Loma Linda, California, February 16–18, 2024, this conference drew the largest in-person attendance since the Covid pandemic changed everything. People came from as far away as Alberta, Canada, Tennessee, Texas, and Australia.
The rain originally forecasted for the weekend was delayed, and the green hills and cool California winter was the perfect backdrop for a conference. As we gathered at the church, it was not lost on those present that immediately to the south we could see Loma Linda Academy and Loma Linda Medical Center dominating the landscape.
The Life Assurance Ministries board endorsed Kaspars Ozolins’ suggestion for the theme, “Adventism Is Unbelief”, because at the core, the doctrines of Adventism are not founded on trust in Scripture or in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. Rather, Adventist identity is built on the fruit of unbelief. The founders of the religion were not Christian but were Arian, and they organized their beliefs on the basis of their unbiblical worldview.
Each of the plenary sessions addressed specific Adventist doctrines after Redeemer Fellowship’s pastor Gary Inrig’s opening presentation, “What Is Unbelief?”
Each of the plenary sessions addressed specific Adventist doctrines after Redeemer Fellowship’s pastor Gary Inrig’s opening presentation, “What Is Unbelief?” Basing his teaching on Romans 1:18–23, Gary distinguished between disbelief and unbelief and laid the foundation for the rest of the weekend. Kaspars Ozolins, who also led worship throughout the weekend, presented two talks: “Adventism Does Not Believe Biblical Humanity” and “The Adventist Gospel Is Unbelief”.
In his talk about biblical humanity, he demonstrated that Adventism has actually created a Jesus who is not eternal God the Son but has been fashioned in the likeness of humanity instead of humanity reflecting Jesus.
Martin Carey’s talk addressed the fact that Adventism does not believe what Scripture teaches about death, and I spoke about the facts that Adventism does not believe in the true Sabbath rest offered by Jesus nor do they believe in the sufficiency of God’s word.
The Friday evening session featured talks by Paul Carden from The Centers for Apologetics Research and Jim Baber of Academy Apologia, and the evening ended with a Q & A session directed toward a panel of the presenters. The last session on Saturday featured a faith story by Laurie Werk followed by testimonies given by conference attendees, and Allison Johnson also gave her faith story during the weekend.
Deborah Buffone reported on the fast-growing outreach she directs for Life Assurance Ministries in Portuguese to questioning Adventists in Brazil and introduced another expatriate Brazilian, Rodrigo Custodio, who has been working with her in producing high-quality documentaries about Adventism in Portuguese.
A live edition of Former Adventist Podcast led us to the supper hour on Saturday. Nikki Stevenson and I discussed the reality that “Compromise Is Unbelief”, and we took questions from the audience during the last 20 minutes as we talked about the necessity of leaving Adventism when one believes it to be wrong and what it means to set boundaries with friends and family who don’t understand.
Breakout sessions included Carel Stevenson and Richard Tinker leading discussions about family and relational dynamics as people leave Adventism; apologist Jim Baber addressing questions about Adventist doctrines, and Nikki Stevenson and I addressed general questions about Adventism and the process of leaving.
We were served throughout the weekend by Amy Herwig and Adriana Toma from Redeemer Fellowship and their teenaged team of assistants as they organized and served our meals. Those present loved the food and the warmth of being able to eat together at the conference, and many significant conversations occurred as people shared their stories and struggles and prayed for one another.
The time and loving concern these women showed us was a huge impact on many of those present whose Adventism had not included experiencing such willingness from church members to give themselves so selflessly.
The time and loving concern these women showed us was a huge impact on many of those present whose Adventism had not included experiencing such willingness from church members to give themselves so selflessly.
Our final Sunday lunch was hosted again by Les and Fran Spoelstra, Redeemer Fellowship members, at their Redlands home.
The tech team also featured volunteers led by Michael Werk and a team of teenagers who ran cameras, switcher, and slides, and Dave Card from Redeemer Fellowship was our photographer.
Finally, a big thank you goes to Richard Tinker who organized and designed the weekend. Each general session opened with a video clip of Dale Ratzlaff speaking at previous FAF conferences, and Richard emceed the weekend and kept us running smoothly and on time.
There were many first-time attendees. One couple decided during the weekend that they would be leaving their Adventist church when they returned home. Others were blessed by the care and understanding of others who have walked the path out of Adventism.
Comments included:
“This conference is first-rate!”
“The FAF Conference was superb today.”
“What an incredible day! Can’t wait to get back there and learn and listen and fellowship!”
“I’m so glad I came; I hope I can come back next year.”
“It’s like a family reunion.”
“The meetings were so good!”
We thank God for blessing us all as we travelled, prepared, and participated in the conference. Truth was clearly taught, and the Lord Jesus was glorified. We praise Him for making it possible for us to gather in this way to support each other as we seek to live in truth and honor our Lord Jesus. †
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