MARGIE ULRICH LITTELL WITH COLLEEN TINKER
Let’s consider something important. When we dig a bit into the Adventist theology, we see a pattern of DO TELL—DON’T TELL. Here are a few examples of what I mean.
DO TELL members to use the Bible “precept by precept”, “a little here and a little there”. They use this text to support this hop-scotch method of Bible study:
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Is. 28:10).
DON’T TELL members the effects of this method. Just two verses after the above proof text we find God’s declaration of what will happen when people do not know and follow His word in context:
And the Word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken (Is. 28:13).
In other words, when Israel would refuse to live by every word of Scripture, preferring out-of-context proof texts and favorite verses, they would become spiritually compromised. They would no longer know nor care what God really said. They would not live by believing the Word of God, and ultimately they would move into apostasy and ultimately be taken into exile—just as God’s word said they would be.
DO TELL members about the Sabbath and its place in the law (Ex. 20 and Deut. 5).
DON’T TELL members it was not given to everybody. For example, Exodus 31:13 says,
You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.”
And again, Psalm 147:19-20 says:
He declares his word to Jacob, His statutes and commandments to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know His commandments. Praise the Lord!
DO TELL members that creation is mentioned in the fourth commandment.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:8–11).
DON’T TELL members that the pattern of creation is not the reason that God said the Hebrews were to KEEP the day. Instead, their rescue from slavery was the reason they were to keep it:
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day (Deut. 5:15).
DO TELL members about the Mt. Sinai Covenant and commandments.
DON’T TELL members about the Mt Zion Covenant and the Lord Jesus who fulfilled those commandments and speaks to us from heaven instead of through the law.
For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven (Hebrews 12:18–25).
DO TELL members that commandments are mentioned in the book of Revelation.
DON’T TELL members that they are not the Ten Commandments. Writing in Koine Greek, John’s word for the Old Covenant’s Mt Sinai commandments is, always νόμον (nomon). John’s word for Jesus’s New Covenant’s commandments is always ἐντολὴν (entolan) .
He is very careful, precise, and consistent with these word choices in all five of his books so that His readers would not be confused between them.
Here are three examples in the writings of John (and there are many examples!):
- For the Law [nomos] was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17).
- ”If you love Me, you will keep My commandments [ἐντολὴν [entolan)]” (Jn. 14:15).
- “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments [ἐντολὴν (entolan)] of God and their faith in Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
This consistent pattern of John’s use of “entole” and “nomos” is how we know that John never mentions the Ten commandments in the book of Revelation or in 1, 2, or 3, John.
DO TELL members that Jesus judges sinners (Revelation 20:11).
DON’T TELL members that Jesus promises NEVER TO JUDGE people who believe in Him:
“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:22–24).
DO TELL: They have a wonderful hospital system.
DON’T TELL: They kill unborn babies in them—except on Sabbaths, of course.
DO TELL: They have a prophet.
DON’T TELL: She is a false prophet (Hebrews 1:1-3 and more).
In short, Adventism teaches Scripture selectively in order to obscure its unbiblical doctrines, and it promotes its community services while suppressing its practices which would be obviously unbiblical. †
- Jesus Broke the Sabbath and Declared Himself God - February 22, 2024
- God Told Daniel the Future - January 18, 2024
- A New Covenant Needs New Words - November 23, 2023