Help From Zambia
I happened across your ministry from an interview on the Cultish podcast. I am a missionary in the Western Province of Zambia. There is a significant Adventist presence in Zambia, and I have spent years dismantling the local Adventist flavor and doctrine. I would like to lean upon your experience in two areas.
First, I want to develop a polemic booklet in the local vernacular (SiLozi) tackling the false prophet E.G.W. with proofs and some of the core doctrines held by the Seventh-day Adventists. I would like permission to use some of the content I have found on your site as a source and was hoping you could direct me to any other content that may be helpful.
Secondly, I want to train our pastors in a polemic to cause Adventist leaders and members to question. I would love to know from former Adventists what are the most compelling facts or faults that you would advise us to focus upon. I would love to tackle the hot potatoes, so to speak, in the hopes that we may lead them to truth. If you have any existing materials in this line or can direct me to any other resources it would be fantastic.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you so much for writing! What you are doing is remarkable and much-needed! Adventism does have a strong foothold in Africa, and there is an Adventist seminary in Uganda. This is truly a blessing.
The Sabbath, EGW, and the issues of the “law” (Ten Commandments” and how to be saved) are primary. They also teach that Jesus did not complete the atonement at the cross but that He continues it in heaven in their “investigative judgment” (sometimes called the “pre-advent judgment”). Adventists have two primary needs: they need to know the gospel (Adventists cannot define the gospel), and they need to determine their source of authority. They will say they are “Bible only”, but they live inside a worldview that is entirely shaped by Ellen White. Thus their understanding of what the Bible MEANS is warped without their realizing that they do not understand it. Their definitions are determined by EGW.
Underlying ALL of it, Adventists have a physicalist worldview that says man does not have an immaterial spirit. They believe the human spirit is merely “breath” and that people cease to exist when they die. God retains their memory in His memory and infuses that memory of a person into a recreated body at the “resurrection”. They also believe that God is essentially a “heavenly trio” (Ellen White’s words), separate beings who share a name, a purpose, a will—but who are not ONE BEING of shared substance. They have altered their public wording over the years, but they do not understand Jesus to have had ALL the fulness of deity bodily. Their Jesus could have sinned and failed in his mission. The founding Adventists were Arian or semi-Arian and believed that Jesus had a beginning. All of these underlying beliefs shape their internal definitions and understandings.
I am going to give you some links that I believe will help. First, I am going to give you a link to our Former Adventist Podcast series on the 28 Fundamental Beliefs. These will help you understand how they frame their worldview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/former-adventist/id1482887969
Second, Here are two links to articles that should help you to understand the worldview based on their “great controversy”:
Here is a link to an article looking at the Adventist Jesus and the organization’s founding Arianism:
Also, here is a link exploring how Jesus fulfilled the old covenant and inaugurated the new covenant—the teaching that Adventists do not know but which explains the proper place of the law and our being under the law of Christ instead of the Ten Commandments:
Also, our Former Adventist Fact Check podcast is a weekly answer to their weekly Sabbath School lessons which are distributed worldwide to every Adventist Church, so the members are being taught the same things at the same time worldwide:
Also, Although we are not currently publishing a printed version of Proclamation! magazine, all our back issues are online here: ProclamationMagazine.com.
God Created Jesus?
Your ministry has been a life-saver for me for many years. I have a daughter that is still holding onto Adventist beliefs. A new one has just come out. She believes that God actually created Jesus Christ. Do you have any articles that have been written on this subject? It seems to never stop.
Thank you for your ministry. I am forever grateful for your help and showing me the truth.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Here is an article that addresses the Adventist Jesus:
I am so sorry about your daughter; Adventism is a deeply warping religion. I pray the Lord will open her eyes and show her the real Jesus.
I hope this article helps!
Still Confused by Adventism
Thank you very much for this podcast. It’s been 40 years since I left the Adventist church, and it is still very confusing. The only thing I’m not confused about is that God loves me and hears me, and Jesus died to pay for my sins.
So I was talking to my cousin about what could be the mark of the beast, and she became very upset and said that she knew the mark of the beast was going to church on Sunday. She also said she knew that she was going to be saved because she would never go to church on Sunday. I said, “Then you are trying to work your way to heaven.” That totally takes Jesus gift to us out of the picture and depends on her works. I find that most Adventists I know believe this way.
—VIA YOUTUBE
- How can I be born again? - November 14, 2024
- November 16–22, 2024 - November 14, 2024
- We Got Mail - November 14, 2024