VIRLINDA FOSTER | Christian Mom
While visiting with some other former Adventists at the recent Former Adventist Fellowship Conference weekend in Loma Linda, California, I was reminded of something within Adventism that made me extremely uncomfortable long before God opened my eyes to the Biblical gospel or to the problems with Ellen White. This “thing” was what I dubbed, “The Adventist Pep Talks.”
These talks most often happen whenever some “special” Conference speaker would come to visit our local Adventist church, or they might occur at a convocation weekend or camp meeting.
Perhaps you already have a pretty good idea what I am describing. The “pep talks” would often start out with a long list of all the wonderful accomplishments that gave the Adventist organization “bragging rights”:
- how many baptisms there had been,
- how many Adventist hospitals were in operation,
- how many Adventist universities, academies, and schools operated all over the world,
- how many places/countries had medical missionaries,
- how much aid the Adventist Development and Relief Association (ADRA) had given, and
- the number of languages in which Adventist radio and television blanketed the earth.
And that was just for starters!
These kinds of Adventist Pep Talks would almost always be followed by some kind of talk about how this data showed that we, the last-day Remnant people, were accomplishing the Great Commission and hastening the second coming.
All of this would be presented in a fashion much like you might expect to hear at any pep rally, followed up with cheerleader-like “Rah, rah, rah’s”.
“Look at us,” these announcements said in effect. “Look how much we do!”
Often, though, after all the pats on the back congratulating each other about how great we were, we would all be knocked back down with a message reminding us that there was still more that we needed to do! We still hadn’t done all that we could do and must do to finish the work! Of course there would also be an offering appeal to give more money to Adventism, to faithfully do our part to see Jesus coming in the clouds with all the angels.
Growing Embarrassment
Once I even experienced, with a feeling of extreme embarrassment, the Adventist Pep Talk given with just a slight twist. It was at a “Share Him” convocation which was an evangelistic meeting presented by a lay person instead of by an evangelist or pastor. The message, though, had been changed from “look at what we have done,” to “look at what a great choice you are making to join and be a part of all this mission work and all these schools and all these hospitals across all these countries.”
I found that when I would share with my Adventist family how uncomfortable and boastful these kinds of things seemed to me, they just really couldn’t see what it was that I thought was so wrong about them.
While these brag fests became very distasteful to me, I found that when I would share with my Adventist family how uncomfortable and boastful these kinds of things seemed to me, they just really couldn’t see what it was that I thought was so wrong about them. And even more surprising to me was the fact that, even more than their not seeing anything wrong with these self-congratulatory sessions, they actually seemed to enjoy them! Once my brother-in-law even tried to explain to me how it was good to be proud of being part of God’s remnant church!
But how does all this pride and boasting in the accomplishments of the Adventist organization fit with Galatians 6:14 where Paul says,
“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.”—Galatians 6:14
It was not Christ or the Gospel that was being lifted up in these Adventist Pep Talk sessions, that’s for sure. So why do they do it? Could this be at least part of how they keep their members coming back, by instilling into them a sense of pride in their identity as Seventh-day Adventists?
What Do We Have Left?
I am sure that I am not alone in realizing that one of the biggest hurdles I had to get over in actually walking away from Adventism was my personal identity that was entirely wrapped up in the organization! I mean, I cannot once remember referring to myself as a Christian, but I would always say that “I am an Adventist.”
Even after I had gladly accepted the gospel and had seen and even acknowledged that there were problems with Ellen White, even after I admitted that doctrines such as the investigative judgment and the Sabbath being the seal of God were unbiblical—I still had moments of struggle. Even after I could clearly see that the Bible said the Holy Spirit is our seal, I still felt loss and grief.
I joyfully agreed with Paul: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”— 2 Corinthians 1:22 ESV.
…I still remember emotionally going over a list one evening of all the Adventist distinctives that we no longer believed and asking my husband, “What do we have left?!”
Yet I still remember emotionally going over a list one evening of all the Adventist distinctives that we no longer believed and asking my husband, “What do we have left?!”
I felt that without Adventism, something would be missing! After all, it was all I had ever known, and everyone I knew and loved would, of course, still be in that Adventist subculture and no doubt be upset if I wasn’t.
My Identity Changed
But thankfully God doesn’t leave us in these kinds of questions and doubts. And before the words “What do we have left?” were even fully out of my mouth, I was convicted hard with the thought, “What else do you need besides Christ?”
Immediately reality filled my mind and spilled out of me as I said to my husband, “Well, of course we have Jesus! And we have the Bible, and the Holy Spirit, and God the Father!”
That night my identity changed from being an Adventist—from being part of that big organization that told me so regularly how great they are and how much they do—to being a Christ follower! My identity was now in Christ and what He did on the cross to save me from my sins—including the sin of my Adventist pride which, although it embarrassed me to hear the institutional bragging proclaimed from the pulpit, nevertheless had deep roots into my identity, shaping what I used to think was important.
Now I say with Paul:
“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.” Galatians 6:14
That change in me—from boasting in my Adventist identity to boasting in nothing but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ—happened right around this time of the year, four years ago. I can indeed tell you from personal experience that Christ is indeed enough, and so much more than anything we left behind! †
- Leaving Adventist Pride - February 27, 2025