God Rescued Me!

DANIELA HAYES | Seeker of Truth

The last time I told my testimony was at my Adventist boarding school in 2016 during my senior year of high school. I was almost certain that God had saved me by bringing me to that Adventist school, and I shared how grateful I was for it all. However, I did not know the true gospel or that the next few years of being completely immersed in Adventism would be the worst years of my life.

While at that boarding school, I truly believed I was saved.  I was the spiritual vice-president for my senior class; I was involved in ministry, on the praise team, and I even went on a mission trip to Costa Rica. I was on a “spiritual high” because it was my first time away from home, and the Adventist academy was in the beautiful mountains of southern Oregon. I didn’t understand that true salvation was not a feeling or a spiritual high, but rather a spiritual act of God.

When I graduated high school in 2017, I became heavily involved in Adventist ministry and spent my first summer out of high school going door-to-door selling Ellen G. White books. In Adventism this is known as literature evangelism. I thought I was doing the Lord’s work and was taught that it was up to me and the rest of the Adventists to “hasten the Lord’s coming”. My job as a member of God’s remnant church was to win as many souls for the kingdom as possible. I was one of the top sellers; I was well liked within the group. and the leaders definitely saw potential in me to take their leadership positions one day.

Progressive Anxiety

What they didn’t see, however, was that I developed an anxiety disorder that summer. I was heavily depressed and tormented every night. It got so bad that I was not able to sleep. I also would have random breakdowns sometimes, while in the field, because I felt so demonically oppressed. I couldn’t explain it, but I was convinced that it was just Satan attacking me for doing the Lord’s work.

This anxiety continued into my freshman year of college at Pacific Union College, and I could not stop the feeling that I was constantly letting God down. I felt guilty if I ever wanted to wear earrings, if I wasn’t sticking to a vegetarian diet—and I felt like I was going to lose my salvation if I didn’t have consistent pure thoughts or if I forgot to confess all of my sins.

That previous summer going door-to-door had taught me that God only cared about perfecting my character because our character was the only thing we brought to heaven with us.

That previous summer going door-to-door had taught me that God only cared about perfecting my character because our character was the only thing we brought to heaven with us. I was taught that if I was feeling tormented, anxious, or demonically oppressed, it was God simply trying to make me perfect. I thought God WANTED me to constantly feel miserable and oppressed.

My sophomore year I spent the year in Fiji as a student missionary teaching kids at a small Adventist school. I thought I was pleasing God with all my works, but yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t saved or that my salvation could be lost. No matter how hard I tried to please God, I continuously fell short.

When I returned from Fiji I did the door-to-door “ministry” again because I had convinced myself that ministry was the only way to please God. I decided to devote my whole life to it. I was so devoted to this “ministry” and wanting to know God and please him, that it led me to attend one of the most cultic Adventist Bible colleges in the Southwest.

The Heart of Darkness

They had tried to recruit me into this Bible College in 2017, but it didn’t work. They had told me it was God’s perfect will for my life, and if I didn’t obey I would be entering into God’s painful will. It took my dad begging me not to go because, although he is an Adventist, he felt that they were spiritually manipulating me. He was correct, but regardless, I ended up attending this college in 2019.

I was spiritually manipulated into attending this very conservative Adventist college in Prescott, Arizona, that in reality, was not much of a Bible college at all, but rather an Ellen G. White college. They discouraged us from staying in touch with our family members or even going home for breaks because we might “be negatively influenced”.

I was spiritually manipulated into attending this very conservative Adventist college in Prescott, Arizona, that in reality, was not much of a Bible college at all, but rather an Ellen G. White college. They discouraged us from staying in touch with our family members or even going home for breaks because we might “be negatively influenced”. I know now that it was because they knew we would un-brainwash ourselves if we went home, and they did not want that. At that school they made us wear long skirts, be vegan/vegetarian, and prioritize “soul winning”, even if it meant our own health was at stake. I had never been so miserable in my life, but since I was  convinced I was doing the Lord’s work, I stayed and I persevered.

After finally deciding to quit after a very difficult first year because my mental health was so bad, I began to pray fervently for God to reveal himself to me. I had counted on that Bible college to show me who God really was, but all I was met with was spiritual abuse and pain. Deep down I knew that there was no way that God wanted me to be THIS tormented, miserable, and anxious all the time as Adventism taught me He did. I would read verses about peace and joy and the fruit of the Spirit, but I felt like I didn’t have any of that.

I escaped the Bible college but then things got worse when I moved to Weimar College in Northern California in the summer of 2021. I was taught up there that I HAD TO obtain perfection in order to go to heaven, and my anxiety deeply worsened.

I became so shattered after only being up there for three months that I moved back home to SoCal disillusioned, broken, and confused. I did not know or understand why every time I thought I was obeying God or following what Ellen G. White said to do, it only left me torn and in shambles.

Rebellion and Repentance

I quickly rebelled against Adventism and started living like the world instead. I could never be perfect, and every time I did “God’s work” I felt traumatized. I didn’t know what else to do.

I spent about two and a half years in the world living for myself until again, I felt extremely broken and in despair. This time was different, though, because it led me to full dependence and surrender to Christ. I cried out to Him and told him I couldn’t do this anymore; I didn’t want to hurt anymore. I didn’t want to live in confusion and pain anymore. I just wanted to know Him.

My intentions in immersing myself so deeply into Adventism and even attending that Bible college were good. But I didn’t feel like I learned anything about who God truly was in that environment.

Deep down I knew something in Adventism was terribly wrong, and I didn’t know where to turn. I didn’t know where to look or what church to go to. I was utterly and hopelessly lost.

But In the summer of 2023 I decided to give my life to Christ. I had heard the gospel message for the first time at a Harvest Crusade and understood for the first time ever that the wrath of God was real, but that I didn’t have to suffer the punishment I deserved in hell if I put my trust in Jesus.

I got baptized through them on July 8th and I decided I would no longer live for myself. I wanted to follow Jesus. I began to seriously pray for godly friends and a church that taught nothing but the truth. I was finally starting to understand the gospel but I was still surrounded by Adventism in my home life as well as in my community.

I prayed for God to rescue me and to lead me to the right church. I also prayed for him to send me a godly man, because I had felt conviction that year to seriously start to pray for my future husband.

My family and friends are still in the Adventist church, and I was attending La Sierra University at the time. I prayed for God to rescue me and to lead me to the right church. I also prayed for him to send me a godly man, because I had felt conviction that year to seriously start to pray for my future husband. I cried out to God and left all these requests in His hands.

About a month later in August of 2023, I was at a coffee shop with my friend, and I ran into my first love from high school. I hadn’t seen him in about eight years, and I never thought I’d see him again.

After running into each other in August, we decided to hang out one Sunday and catch up. We literally talked about God the whole entire time and realized we both had very similar beliefs—and he had never been Adventist. This was a month after I got saved and had been baptized. He was relieved I no longer attended an Adventist church and that I was looking for a new church. I was aware at that point that Ellen G. White was a false prophet and that there was much deception and doctrinal error in the Adventist church. We talked for hours and hours, and we both felt like God in His providence had led us back to each other.

We began dating a month later, and I knew God had answered my prayer for a godly man. He quickly invited me to his church which was a Reformed church, and they preached the true gospel every Sunday. I was brought to tears when I learned about God’s election and that He chose me as his own. I had spent my whole life believing I was capable of losing my salvation, and that belief caused me to live with severe anxiety and worry in my heart.

Rescue

God used my now husband (we got married two months ago) to teach me and lead me in the truth and study of the Word. We read Christian books together and are currently in the middle of reading The Gospel According to Jesus by John McArthur. He introduced me to the Former Adventist Fellowship ministry and has spent countless hours helping me unlearn Adventism and the deceitfulness that cult brought to my mind. He’s always there for me to reassure me that I am the Lord’s and that NOTHING can pluck me from His hand. He prays for me every night and morning and continuously leads me spiritually.

We are currently at a Reformed Baptist church in Riverside, and I am being taught solid truth. God answered my prayer for a good church, a godly husband, and godly friends. I have never felt so blessed.

The road of leaving Adventism has not been easy, and in fact, it has been very rocky. I did not have my mom’s support when I told her I was getting baptized by a “Sunday church”, and my husband was definitely blamed when I told her I removed my Adventist membership, but by God’s grace, He has pulled me out and is healing me.

I was convicted to leave La Sierra University last September after my Bible teacher taught us that the Bible is not infallible and that a lot of the Bible stories are just metaphors. He also taught us that everybody will be saved and go to heaven. There were a lot of things that made me uncomfortable at that school, and just being around a demonic influence did not sit well with my soul. I know Adventism falls under the description of doctrines of demons the Bible warns about in 1 Timothy 4:1.

I stopped attending Adventist church fully in 2023. I removed my membership in 2024, and now I am looking to establish a membership at my current church in 2025.

The Lord has been so merciful and patient in taking me out of Adventism. The sanctifying process isn’t an overnight thing, and I still have to remind myself daily that I can have assurance of my salvation.

The Lord has been so merciful and patient in taking me out of Adventism. The sanctifying process isn’t an overnight thing, and I still have to remind myself daily that I can have assurance of my salvation. It is not up to me to manipulate God. He is sovereign, and I no longer have to live in deep shame and guilt because I forgot to confess each and every one of my sins, or didn’t think pure thoughts on the Sabbath.

Jesus died for my sins, and I can rest assured that I am His and no one can take that away from me. John 10:28 says, ”and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish: and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”.

My hope and prayer is that everyone reading this can share that same assurance and trust and accept the real Jesus into their hearts today.

There is no investigative judgement or proving we are the Lord’s because we have kept the Sabbath. The word says, 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”—Ephesians 2:8-1

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Daniela Hays is a college student who was born and raised in Seventh-day Adventism. She heard the gospel for the first time in 2023 and has attended a reformed Christian church in Southern California ever since. Daniela is a newly wed wife and is currently hoping to involve herself more in Former Adventist ministries.