MYLES CHRISTIAN | Host, Answering Adventism
New drama has sparked within the Adventist universe prompted by the cancellation of an Adventist pastor by the name of Conrad Vine—particularly with some statements he has made regarding the Adventist Church’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. This kerfuffle has led to a variety of prominent voices in the movement taking their sides in what appears to be a cancellation campaign. However, what has come from all of that is the buzz around speculation that the Adventist Church is headed for a split.
With all of the hubbub swirling in Adventist circles, we have been provided a great opportunity to test three key claims that the Seventh-day Adventist Church makes and thereby test Adventism’s validity—namely its identification of Babylon and of the remnant, and its definition of the shaking. I like to think of this trifecta as an inescapable cycle of finger pointing and self-fulfilling prophecy.
Generally speaking, the shaking is Adventism’s teaching that there will be a sifting period before the return of Jesus when the posers in the movement will fall away. The doctrine of the remnant entails the fundamental concept that Adventism is united in ways that Protestantism is not; in other words, Adventism as a movement is distinct, separate, and called out from all of that Protestant confusion. Therefore, Adventism’s doctrine of the remnant is intimately connected with its definition of Babylon.
Babylon supposedly represents false Christianity, meaning, from their perspective, any Catholic or Orthodox or Protestant church which worships on Sunday. The Adventist Church, therefore, sees their focus as the mandate to call people out of “Babylon” to come join them as the remnant; otherwise, the wrath of God is stored up for them.
This trifecta produces a never-ending cycle of division fueled by fear that keeps many Adventists locked in the system despite how obviously false the system is when evaluated by the organization’s own standards. Despite this glaring fact, the Adventist Church’s concept of the Shaking swoops in with its cape of fear to keep any inquisitive Adventists who dare to question Adventism from doing so—lest they fall away from God’s last day remnant people. Thus, the cycle never ends.
Inescapable Trifecta
But why is this trifecta of Babylon, the remnant, and the shaking an inescapable cycle of finger pointing and self-fulfilling prophecy?
It is inescapable because Adventism is steeped in division. Every time something divisive gets the spotlight, the focus becomes shifted to who comprises the Remnant. In fact, some Adventists go so far as to claim there’s a “Remnant within the Remnant”. This nit-picking only further heightens division leading to both sides pointing at each other as the subjects of the shaking. Then they simultaneously use their internal divisions as proof that the shaking is happening.
In the December, 2000, issue of Ministry Magazine, the late Adventist theologian Herbert Douglass wrote an article in which he proceeded to explain what the Great Controversy Worldview is. He began by explaining that, for most Adventists, the term “Great Controversy” is associated with Ellen G. White’s capstone work. However, for the learned, he explains how it’s actually much bigger than this—it’s actually the unique paradigm that the Adventist Church uniquely possesses, and he describes some of it’s unique characteristics. He writes:
“For Seventh-day Adventists, the Great Controversy Theme (GCT) is the core concept that brings coherence to all biblical subjects…Every philosophical or theological system builds on a central, governing theme or paradigm. Its central theme becomes that system’s core truth and determines all of that system’s principles and policies. Stephen Hawking, the remarkable Cambridge physicist (cosmologist), wrote in his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, that should scientists discover the long-sought “theory of everything” to explain the varying mechanisms of the universe, “we should know the mind of God”.
Seventh-day Adventists have been given a perspective which provides a “theory of everything.” It introduces us to the “mind of God”. We didn’t discover it; it was given to us. We call it the Great Controversy Theme….
How we understand this core theme directly affects how we grasp the intent of the biblical writers when they used words such as righteousness, salvation, gospel, etc. The GCT helps us to work our way through centuries of theological confusion over the meaning of such realities as justification, sanctification, atonement, obedience, and works. Without the GCT, all would remain divided over such subjects as the importance of the Old Testament sanctuary service and the New Testament view of Christ as our High Priest/Mediator, the meaning of faith and grace, the place of obedience in relation to legalism, why Jesus came the first time, why He came the way He did, and when He will return.”—Herbert Douglass, Ministry Magazine, December 2000, pg. 5-7
Wow! The theory of everything? This was a bold claim—a claim in which the organization felt enough confidence to publish and teach it to the clergy of the organization. The Great Controversy Theme supposedly provides special access to the mind of God that no one else has. Furthermore, Adventists didn’t discover this paradigm in the pages of Scripture, but it was given to them by way of their prophetess. This paradigm is then brought to the Bible and allegedly gives them an infallible interpretive framework to truly understand what the Bible is teaching. Furthermore, it’s the GCT that’s supposed to be the antidote to any theological division. It’s supposed to be the core reason as to why they are distinct and separate from Babylon (Protestants)—they have a level of unity that no one else is supposed to have…allegedly.
So why is there so much division within Adventism? Why is there so much division on what’s supposed to be core Adventist teaching (I’m talking about the investigative judgment and health message which are at the heart of the GCT)? Moreover, why is Adventism a spitting image of the exact thing that they claim to be immune from—internal division?
Adventism Does Not Live Up To Its Claims
While the situation with Conrad Vine is not directly theological, it has brought these key aspects of the Adventist Church’s identity back up to the surface. It brought back to the surface the questions regarding the validity of what the organization claims about the Spirit of Prophecy and Ellen White. If the Seventh-day Adventist Church does, indeed, fit the bill of its own definition of “Babylon,” defined by its very own Adventist Pope, then what does that say about EGW?
What all of this confusion teaches us is that Adventism is not what it claims to be based on its own standards. This is the perfect opportunity to bring up this doctrinal trifecta and dilemma to our Adventist friends and allow them to ponder this reality and to test it against what they have been taught by the system.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the Adventist organization especially considering that time is their worst enemy. They may be holding the watches, but God owns the time. And the longer time goes on, and the more petty scuffles arise within their ranks, the harder it becomes for this organization to retain its “prophetic” identity as God’s last day people with a special mission and message that God exclusively has for them to fill.
There is, indeed, a shaking happening within the Adventist organization; it’s just not the kind of shaking their prophet taught them to expect. God is leading His people out of darkness into the Light in His own timing and will continue to do so as the fullness of His Kingdom expands and all of His enemies—including false religions of which the Adventist organization is one— are made his footstool (1 Corinthians 15:25). (I am speaking of the Adventist organization, not of individual Adventists.)
Let’s pray that as the confusion and division increases in Adventist Bedlam, that weary, weak, and feeble sinners caught in the Devil’s crosshairs will find true peace and true rest in the actual gospel of the actual Jesus Christ. †
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- The Adventist/Protestant Dilemma - June 6, 2024