Breaking Free From My Entanglements With Adventism!

Doctrine, Feature

[DENNIS PALMER]

Using a plain-white-polypropylene strapping roll, I started strapping up huge boxes containing commercial display goods. As I pulled the straps, they became tangled. In hopes of untangling the straps, I took matters into my own hands. I lifted the strapping roll—and the straps fell off the roll in a huge, tangled wad. I tried to untangle them, but the tangling only increased as I continued strapping up more display goods. 

Finally, my supervisor came over and said, “Never pick up the strapping roll.” He gave me a new strapping roll, and I had no more tangling trouble when I followed his command. 

Sin is like these tangled straps. The writer in Hebrews 12:1 warns us of the “sin that so easily entangles” (NIV). Some of the sins that seek to entangle us and me personally are pride, greed, envy, bitterness, unbelief, and false doctrines. The list is actually much longer. 

Let me share with you my entanglements with Adventist doctrines and why I believe that an Adventist who is a believer and knows that the key distinctive Adventist doctrines (e.g., investigative judgment, the inspiration of Ellen White, incomplete atonement) are contrary to the gospel should leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Briefly, I will also describe how Jesus led me out of that tangled web of Adventist thought. 

Becoming Entangled In Adventism

As a young boy at an impressionable age, I enrolled in the New Life Bible Correspondence Course. I did not know that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was promoting this Bible study. Soon I became entangled in the teachings of the Adventist Church. The deeper I went into Adventism, the more tangled up I became. I wish I would have asked more questions and examined more closely God’s Word to see if the things that were being taught were true (Acts 17:11). 

The first day I stepped into a Seventh-day Adventist Church, my knees started shaking as the Sabbath School teacher taught us that in the last-days Sunday-keepers will receive the mark of the beast. The thought that shortly before Christ’s return every Sunday keeper will be lost became a tangled-up knot in my head. 

In my own strength, I tried to justify the Adventist faith and downplay their many inconsistencies. I never tried to lie, but I was shocked when prior to being received into church membership I was asked before the congregation if I believed that the “gift of the Spirit of prophecy was manifested in the remnant church through the ministry and writings of Ellen White?”1 Not wanting to make a big scene, my response was a weak “yes.”2 I paid lip service to Ellen White, but I never thought she was inspired; yet I lied to join the church. My hope was that by attending an Adventist college, namely, Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, I could prepare myself to defend the Adventist faith.

I felt I would have to study twice as hard as other Adventist students just to keep up since I was not grounded in the teachings of the Adventist Church.  

The first Bible class I had at Union College made me go into a tailspin. As the professor began teaching Genesis 3:15, I started to shake. I kept thinking: “I did not learn this or anything about Ellen White in Sunday School.” I felt I would have to study twice as hard as other Adventist students just to keep up since I was not grounded in the teachings of the Adventist Church. 

In my attempt to defend the Adventist faith, Adventism became a Gordian knot. I found myself entangled in that knot and wondered if I simply lacked faith to believe everything they taught. I did not want to leave Adventism, but I had high hopes of reforming the church from within as an Adventist.

I wanted to believe that the Adventist church was in line with the Reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. As I studied their writing, I slowly started to slip away from the Arminian influences within Adventism. Ideas of election, predestination (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:11-12), justification by faith, the perseverance of the saints, sola scriptura, and the local autonomy of the church emerged. I wondered if these concepts could be reconciled with Adventism—or would they provide a pathway to untie the knot of Adventism?

Should You Remain Entangled In Adventism?

Around the time Desmond Ford was defrocked by the Adventist leadership (1980), I met him at an Adventist Church in or near Fort Worth, Texas. What surprised me was that he never presented a responsible action plan or called Seventh-day Adventists to leave Adventism. Even though reports indicated that about 20 to 30 Seventh-day Adventist Churches had “hived off” from the Adventist organization and formed fellowships which are supportive of Good News Unlimited,3 Ford repudiated the notion of starting a new denomination by claiming that at best a “Fordian” church would be a “reduplication” of Ford’s “stupidities and faults and failings.”4

Ford’s admonition was not for people to leave the church, but to “change” what was doctrinally incorrect and to “propagate” what was true.”

Ford’s admonition was not for people to leave the church, but to “change” what was doctrinally incorrect and to “propagate” what was true.”5 However, my question remains: why should a Christian who acknowledges that Adventism contains heretical teachings remain in the Adventist system? 

Many Adventists justify their membership in the Adventist organization because they hope to attain some type of reform from within by staying in the Adventist system. I believe that in the long run, this strategy which Desmond Ford chose leads to further entanglements with Adventism. There are six reasons why I believe that staying in Adventism and trying to reform Adventism from within is detrimental to one’s spiritual development and will likely lead to further entanglements within the Adventist system.

Compromised Witness

First, continuing within Adventism knots up your witness to your family and your community. If you are a parent, you are responsible for the spiritual development of your children and for teaching them sound doctrine. The Adventist organization, however, is not a good environment for putting down spiritual roots that will grow spiritual branches upward toward the Son. The problem is that Adventism is sanctuary-centered, not cross-centered. The Adventist sanctuary doctrine is a complex Gordian knot that Christ died provisionally for our sins, but it denies the effectiveness of the cross in eliminating sin by stipulating a transfer of confessed sins to the heavenly sanctuary and an end-time transfer of the sins of the redeemed to Satan. This type of sanctuary doctrine distorts the gospel that clearly indicates that Christ’s atonement is complete (John 19:30; Heb. 9:23-28). There is no transfer of sins to the sanctuary or to Satan. The “blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7, NKJV).

Entanglement With False Doctrines

Second, staying within Adventism will likely lead to further entanglements with the false doctrines of the Adventist faith. False doctrines are preached from the pulpit and disseminated in the Sabbath School classes. Belief in the inspiration of the writings of Ellen White may cause an Adventist to later abandon the doctrine of biblical inerrancy on the grounds that the writings of Ellen White contain errors. Adventists are shaking their fist at God when they deny the inerrancy of Scripture in order to accommodate the writings of Ellen White. Adventists are opposing God by teaching that Christ inherited a sinful nature. The sad reality is that Adventism opens the door to a false Jesus and a false gospel in the notion that the application of the cleansing power of the blood through faith at conversion is not enough, and so another blotting out of sin will take place at the investigative judgment. Unless one is highly alert, the constant exposure to untruth and the neglect of sound doctrine could lead you to accept errors within the Adventist system.

Conflating Authority Of Scripture With EGW

Third, remaining within Adventism could lead to conflating the authority of Scripture with the writings of Ellen White. For example, Ellen White in Selected Messages, vol. 1, 36, claims to have visions and sets herself up as an authoritative “messenger” of God’s people. In Selected Messages, vol. 3, 30, Ellen White places her writings on par with Scripture when she claims that both of them are inspired by the Holy Spirit. She also warns her followers of their spiritual demise if her words are not recognized as authoritative and heeded (Selected Messages, vol. 1, 46; Testimonies to the Church, vol 5, 98, 661, 672).6 

Seventh-day Adventists, in Article 17 of their 27 Fundamental Beliefs, stated that the writings of Ellen White “are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction and correction.” In 2015, that affirmation was softened in the 28 Fundamental Beliefs to the assertion that Ellen White’s “writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church” (Article 18). Yet this rewording of their doctrinal statement is arguably window dressing in order to make a favorable impression to the more evangelical wing of Adventism. Implied in the affirmation of the “prophetic authority” of Ellen White’s writing is the thought that her writings “are a continuing and authoritative source of truth.” Her writings are still regarded as authoritative. This high status of her writings causes many Adventists to trust her as an inspired interpreter of the Bible rather than trusting the Word of God. Unconsciously, one may adopt her hermeneutics and the entire structure of Adventist theology.7 

Reform Of Heretical Movement Impossible

Fourth, lingering within the Adventist Church with the hope of rising up in church leadership and reforming the church from within will likely end in a dead-end knot. There are certain positions of church leadership that are not open to people who deny the inspiration of Ellen White and the major Adventist teachings. Remaining within Adventism may cause one to get comfortable with Adventism and to modify or disguise one’s true theological convictions in the hope of rising to leadership. However, a godly end or purpose of trying to advance spiritual reform does not justify an ungodly means. 

Adventists want revival, but as a whole, they want to build spiritual renewal on the sands of Adventist heretical doctrines.

Desmond Ford wanted Adventist spiritual renewal. However, he experienced resistance throughout his ministry. K. S. Parmenter, former President of the Australasian Division, tried to get Ford to agree that he would not speak on any issue that was not in harmony with the SDA Dallas Statement.8 Arguably, many of the Adventist leaders who voted to revoke Ford’s ministerial credentials failed to grasp the theological problems with the Adventist sanctuary doctrine as presented by Ford.9 Adventists want revival, but as a whole, they want to build spiritual renewal on the sands of Adventist heretical doctrines. To do so is to be like the “foolish man who built his house on the sand,” and the rain, flood waters, and the winds “blew and beat on that house, …and great was its fall.” (Matt 7:26-27; NKJV). Destruction is sure when the pillars of the faith are not grounded in the Bible. 

Financial Entanglement With Falsehood

Fifth, residing within the Adventist system usually involves financial entanglements and other entanglements with the Adventist Church, lifestyle, and faith. When people who are not Adventists from the heart choose to regularly attend an Adventist Church, there is a sense of moral obligation to support that church. This obligation leads to an ethical dilemma since people should also be responsible stewards and not give to causes that clash with their core convictions. The way out of this dilemma is to leave Adventism.

Christians Are To Separate From Apostasy

Sixth, Christians are not called to become part of the Gordian Adventist knot but to separate from ecclesiastical apostasy. We are to separate ourselves from ungodly teachings. Paul in Romans 16:17 warns the brethren to avoid “those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned” (NKJV). The prophet Amos asks the question, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed” (Amos 3:3; NKJV)? The implied answer is “no.” The mandate is to say “good bye” to Adventism.   

Cutting Off My Entanglements With Adventism

In college, inner emotional tension began to develop between my membership in the Adventist Church and my beliefs which had drifted away from the shifting sands of Adventism. Sometimes I would have nightmares reminding me of my sin of remaining entangled in Adventism. Christ was directing me on a new path that would eventually sever my entanglements with Adventism. In 1978, alone and with much anxiety, I walked away from Adventism and joined another church. However, I was not alone because my feet were firmly planted on the Rock.       

Conclusion

Perhaps you are tangled up in the doctrinal errors of the Adventist Church: the investigative judgment, Adventism as the remnant church, Jesus as Michael the archangel, an uncompleted atonement, Christ partook of Adam’s fallen nature, and the inspiration of the writings of Ellen White. Perhaps you are not sure if some issues in Adventism are wrong or right. However, you know God does not want you to be tangled up in deceit. You know in your heart that something is wrong, and you want to follow Jesus. If this is the genuine desire of your heart, why not begin by taking off your tangled up robe of your own righteousness (Isa. 64:6)? Through faith, put on the spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus is enough. Leaving behind your self-righteousness, repent (Luke 13:3), and trust Christ alone as your Lord and Savior (John 1:12; Acts 16:31). 

Do not return to the entanglement with false doctrines. Throw away the books of Ellen White if you must. Switch from reading Ellen White to reading of God’s Word. Contact former Seventh-day Adventists to help you transition in your spiritual journey. Allowing Christ to shape your life, take the big step of leaving Adventism and joining a Bible-believing church. Pray; dig deeply into the Bible; participate in a weekly Bible study; share your faith; and use your spiritual gifts for the glory of God. May Christ spark a new beginning of faith and renewal in your heart that will shine like the luminous noonday brightness of the gospel that pierces the pacifism of remaining within Adventism and the progressivism of unsound doctrine. †

ENDNOTES

  1. The material in quotes might be my recollection of the actual words spoken or a paraphrase of what was said.
  2. Many years later, I sent a letter of apology to the members of a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nebraska where I once held my membership. The letter was graciously received.  
  3. Milton Hook, Desmond Ford: Reformist, Theologian, and Gospel Revivalist (Caloundra, Qld, Australia: Desmond Ford Publications, 2022), 245. 
  4. Desmond Ford, “The Church in Thy House: Guidelines for an Evangelical Society,” in The Adventist Crisis of Spiritual Identity, Desmond and Gillian Ford (Caloundra, Qld, Australia: Desmond Ford Publications, 2022), 228.
  5. Ibid., 226.
  6. See my article, Dennis L. Palmer, “Whose Authority Shall We Follow? Back to the Bible? Ellen White? The Authority of the Church?” Proclamation 4, nos. 5-6 (September-December, 2003): 20-23.
  7. Adventists have at least four major problems in reading the Bible. First, many Adventists read into the prophetic sections of the Bible what is not there (e.g., United States in prophecy, Rev 13:11). Second, Adventists frequently fail to read what is in the Bible (e.g., the preservation and perseverance of the saints, John 10:28-29; 17:9-12; Rom 8:28-39; Eph 4:30; Phil 1:6). Third, Adventists habitually fail to read Scripture in light of the newness of the New Covenant. This causes them to stumble over issues like the Sabbath and dietary laws. Fourth, many Seventh-day Adventists read the writings of Ellen White as though she were inspired, and they often adjust their understanding of the Bible to her theological outlook.
  8. Hook, Desmond Ford, 207.
  9. Ibid, 206-22.

Dennis Palmer grew up in the Christian Church but converted to Adventism in his teens. He attended Union College, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Lincoln Nebraska, where he majored in theology. In 1978, just before he graduated from Union College, he became a Seventh Day Baptist. After pastoring for several years he left the Seventh Day Baptist denomination and graduated with a PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary. Currently Dennis is one of several pastors sharing the preaching at Redeemer’s Heart Fellowship Church near Watauga, Texas. He is also a long-term substitute teacher at Haltom Middle School and leads a weekly home Bible study.

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