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Seventh Day Adventist, A Study Of Most of us have not dealt much with Seventh Day Adventists but they are still out there preaching their doctrine. This brief article seeks to at least give a little background in how they got started and some of their beliefs. William Miller (1782-1849) predicted Christ would return on March 21, 1844. He gained quite a following with somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 people following him. When Jesus did not return on March 21, 1844 he changed his date to October 22, 1844. Again Jesus did not return and many of his followers left him. Ellen G. White (1827-1915) then appeared on the scene. She claimed to be a prophet of God, having gone into heaven on numerous occasions. She also claimed God gave her a green cord and when she straightened it out, Jesus would appear. She was told to not keep the cord coiled up to long for it would then knot up and be hard to straighten out. Thus she had direct access to the Christ. She and her husband, James White became the leaders of the Seventh Day Adventist. One problem the Adventists have is failed predictions of Christ's return, Ellen G. White made during her lifetime. Mrs. White claimed to be inspired of God, yet the Bible says that if a "prophet" makes a claim and wrong, they are not a prophet of God, Deut. 18.15ff. They believe the Sabbath Day is still to be observed since it started in the Garden of Eden and continues on to the present time. Yet nowhere in the Book of Genesis was man commanded to keep the Sabbath. That command was not given until the Law of Moses was given on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20.8-11. Even then it was given only to the children of Israel and not to all of mankind. Personally I find it interesting that of the sins mentioned against the Gentiles in the Bible, nowhere can one read of them violating the Sabbath. That is because they were never commanded to keep the Sabbath. Colossians 2.16-17 speaks of Christ taking away the Law of Moses and mentions the "Sabbaths." Seventh Day Adventists claim this does not refer to the weekly observance of the Sabbath, but the other Sabbaths such as Jewish festivals i.e. Passover, Day of Pentecost, etc. In some translations the word is translated "Sabbaths" as plural. Interestingly in the New American Standard it is called the Sabbath as in the weekly observance and most scholars agree with this being the intent of the writer. Therefore, Jesus' death on the cross ended Sabbath Day observance. We can point out that Christ was raised on the first day of the week (John 20.1), the Christians came together on the first day to break bread (Acts 20.7), Christians at Corinth and other places came together on the first day of the week to take up a collection (1 Corinthians 16.1ff), and other passages place an emphasis on the first day of the week. In response they claim that Sunday observance did not start until the Catholic Church changed it from the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Yet numerous sources say that the saints came together on the first day of the week hundreds of years before the Catholic Church formed. The historian, Josephus, states that the followers of Jesus met on the eight day. It was called the eight day because it was the day after the 7th day. Thus they were meeting on the first day of the week. As a supposed prophet of God, Ellen G. White taught on a number of subjects. She originally made the use of butter, eggs, milk, and cheese sinful. Later on she changed her teaching but again we have to ask why? Was she wrong the first time and right after she changed or vice versa? She forbade the eating of meats and even today many of her followers are vegetarians. While good eating habits are to be commended and in fact according to some studies Seventh Day Adventist have a longer than usual life expectancy; it is wrong to bind where God has not bound. 1 Timothy 4.1-4 warns us of those who would forbid that which God created to be received with thanksgiving. Acts 10 tells the dietary laws of the Law of Moses were gone and nothing was to be considered unclean. There are various similarities between the Seventh Day Adventist and the Jehovah Witness. They both do not believe in hell or eternal punishment. They also believe that heaven will be here upon earth. One only has to go to Matthew 25.31-46 and read of Jesus speaking of both heaven and hell. If heaven is real then so is hell. 2 Peter 3 points out that this heaven and earth will be destroyed when Jesus returns. They believe Christ will return and establish an earthly kingdom. 1 Corinthians 15 says that when Christ returns He will deliver the kingdom to God, verse 24. Like most Premillennialist they have the kingdom being established when Christ returns while the Bible says we are already in the kingdom, Colossians 1.13. They expect Christ to rule on the throne of David in Jerusalem. Although Jesus already has all authority, Matthew 18.18, and sits at the right hand of God. Jeremiah 22.30 says that NONE of the descendants of Coniah will reign on the throne of David and Christ was a descendant of Coniah, so He cannot reign on the throne of David in Jerusalem. They have a form of government foreign to the Bible. They have 12 division organizations that administer church affairs in the different continents, 78 union conferences making up the divisional organizations, and local conferences. None of this can be found in the Bible. These are a few of the "high points" that will help to understand their doctrine. Dennis Tucker |