Are 7th Day Adventists a cult?

As much as you dislike the pre-trib rapture teaching, it is not heretical. It does not teach salvation by grace plus works, which the Investigative Judgment (and other SDA teachings) do. To compare the two is to compare apples and peanuts.

 

Craig
I am not an angry former SDA.
I left that church in 1981, over 23 years ago!

Personally, I cannot understand your very strong desire to defend them when they show absolutely no desire to state that you are a true Christian outside of their "true remnant church". You act as if your wife, children, or best friends are SDAs and cannot defend themselves. Tell us, exactly why are you defending them so vehemently? I am really puzzled?

The vast majority of Baptists, whether, KJV only, Dispensational, Preterist, or otherwise usually still accept each other as real Christians. This is NOT true among SDAs.

Those billboards are usually paid for by local SDA churches -- find us a local SDA church that objects to them!!!

Would you like me to give you several pages of direct quotes from The Great Controversy describing our "daughters of Babylon" churches?

 

prior to 1500 much of the dominant Christian sects were under the great influence of the Catholic Church, cast into the dark ages & limited the reading of the Bible to so called scholars, not allowing the common man to even gaze upon it for the most part. Seeing that the Catholic Church is (almost) the worlds oldest Christian cult still in existance your argument is rather incomplete.

 

Alright, Dr B, that's enough outa you. It's bad enough that I've got Ripplinger's little sister gunning after me, but now you...Et tu, Brute?

I also have a couple of books from the SDA. They were given to me by a girl in my wife's teen class, who received them from her boyfriend. My wife actually took them away from me because I became so angry over the garbage that they claimed! And you can pick these books up for free at any laundromat in the area!

Love ya, Grif. It's just harder to do on some days...

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Until you post some data to back up your statements, they are NOTHING BUT GIBBERISH.

 

I see that you know as much about church history as I do about your first pet—and guess how much that is!

 

There are "Baptist" churches in my community that make those billboards in Georgia look like valentine cards! Indeed, there are many individual congregations in my community that are a source of embarrassment to their denominations.

The data that I have posted indicates that the SDA Church (not necessarily every single congregation throughout the entire world) is a Christian denomination. I will continue to believe that and defend them until someone shows me some hard evidence to the contrary. (If the best that you can do is telling me about few ridiculous billboards in Georgia and telling me to read the writings of Ellen G. White, you might as well quit trying to convince me).

However, if the SDA is a non-Christian cult, I want to KNOW about it. But please cut the nonsense—I don’t have the time for it.

 

Nothing, nothing but more unsubstantiated gibberish!

 

That would at least be a start (but PLEASE include the page numbers so that I can verify the data).

 

Something odd about this thread. I've gone from page 1 to page 5 looking for the name of Bob Ryan, who, according to his profile is a Seventh-
Day Adventist, yet, I don't find him in this discussion.

But, if you all go and check out the Calvinism/Arminianism debate, you'll find him there, arguing for Arminianism and just as gleefuly throwing innuendoes and insinuations regarding Calvinism and Calvinists like he believed in salvation by grace thru faith.

Yup. SDA is a cult. Cults usually infiltrate legitimate Christian groups to throw monkey wrenches and confusion.

 

Craig
You asked for it. You are a hard nut to convince. I would not want you sitting on a jury.

The following quotes from Ellen G. White’s, The Great Controversy, are from the hard bound
red book which is equivalent to our Bible. It is quoted in SDA literature by page number
preceded by GC. Other editions found in the Laundromat usually have other pages numbers in
brackets referring to the official hard bound red copy.

Concerning William Miller: Page 331: “As Elisha was called from following his oxen in the field
to receive the mantle of consecration to the prophetic office, so was William Miller called to
leave his plow and open to his people the mysteries of the kingdom of God.”

Concerning the fulfillment of Revelation 6: Page 333: “In 1833, two years after Miller began to
present in public the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, the last of the signs appeared which
were promised by the Savior as tokens of His second advent. This prophecy received a striking
and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. ....”

Concerning the fulfillment of Revelation 9: Page 335: “At the very time specified, Turkey,
through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe, and thus placed
herself under the control of Christian nations.”

God deliberately designed Miller’s false message of a second coming in 1844: Page 335: “At the
very time specified, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied
powers of Europe, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian nations.”

We, Apostate Babylon, began in 1844: Page 376: “Those [non-Adventists] who sought to shut
out the testimony of God’s word they [Adventists] could not regard as constituting the church of
Christ, ‘the pillar and ground of the truth.’ Hence they felt themselves justified in separating from
their former connection. In the summer of 1844 about fifty thousand withdrew from the
churches.”

God punished us in 1844 fro nor agreeing with Adventists: Page 380: “In refusing the warning of
the first angel, they rejected the means which heaven had provided for their restoration. They
spurned the gracious messenger which would have corrected the evils which separated them from
God.... Here was the cause of that fearful condition of worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual
death which existed in the churches in 1844.”

“Babylon is fallen” refers to us: Page 389: “The second angel’s message of Revelation 14 was
first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more direct application to the churches of
the United States where the warning of the judgment had been most widely proclaimed and most
generally rejected.... As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have
fallen lower and lower. ... But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its culmination.”

Check this out: Page 401: “Of all the great religious movements since the days of the apostles,
none have been more free from human interpretation and the wiles of Satan than was that of the
autumn of 1844.”

 

Concerning Daniel 8:14 ending in 1844: Page 410: “To deny that the days ended at that time was
to involve the whole question in confusion, and to renounce positions which had been established
by unmistakable fulfillment of prophecy.”

Jesus did not enter the Most Holy Place at his ascension: Page 420-421: “The ministration of the
priests throughout the year in the first apartment of the sanctuary, “within the veil,” which
formed the door and separated the holy place from the outer court, represents the work of
ministration upon which Christ entered at his ascension. [Hebrews 6:;19, 20; 9:12 are quoted].

Nobody’s sins were blotted out before 1844: Pages 421-422: “And as the typical cleansing of the
earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual
cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which
are there recorded. But before this can be accomplished, there must be an examination of the
books of record to determine who, through repentance and faith in Christ, are entitled to the
benefits of his atonement.”

God’s first and second angel’s messages by William Miller of Revelation 14, was wrong: Page
422: “Thus those who followed in the light of prophetic word saw that, instead of coming to the
earth at the 2300 days in 1844, Christ THEN entered the MOST HOLY PLACE of the heavenly
sanctuary. To perform the closing work of atonement preparatory to his coming.”

Satan is the scapegoat of Leviticus 16: Page 422: “.....the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of
sin, upon whom the sins of the finally penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest, by
virtue of the blood of the sin offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he placed them upon
the scapegoat. When Christ, by virtue of His own blood, removes the sins of his people from the
heavenly sanctuary at the close of His ministration, He will place them upon Satan who, in the
execution of the judgment, will bear the final penalty. The scapegoat was sent away into a land
not inhabited, never to come again into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever
banished from the presence of God and His people, and he will be blotted from existence in the
final destruction of sin and sinners.”

The Investigative Judgment is the heart of Adventism: Page 423: “The subject of the sanctuary
was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a
complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the
great advent movement and revealing present duty as it brought to light the position and work of
his people.”

 

144, 000 SDAs will stand without a mediator when Christ returns for them: Pages 425-
426"[quotes Malachi 3:2,3 referring to 1844] “Those who are living upon the earth when the
intercession shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God WITHOUT
A MEDIATOR. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the
blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and THEIR OWN DILIGENT EFFORT they must
be conquerors in the battle with evil. WHILE the investigative judgment is going forward in
heaven, WHILE the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to
be a special work of purification , of putting away of sin, among God’s people on earth. This
work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14. WHEN this work shall have
been accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing. THEN [Malachi 3:4
is fulfilled], THEN [Ephesians 5:27 will be fulfilled], THEN [Song of Solomon 6:10 will be
fulfilled], “Besides [Malachi 3:5 will have been fulfilled], and “Jude refers to the same scene
[Jude 14, 15].

Those who reject the SDA message of the investigative judgment will not be saved: GC430 “It is
those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement who receive the benefits of
his mediation in their behalf, WHILE those who reject the light which brings to view this work
of ministration are not benefitted thereby.” ... [Jews who rejected Christ were left in total
darkness.’ “The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the condition of the careless and
unbelieving among professed Christians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merciful
High Priest.”

The U.S.A. is the false prophet nation of Revelation 13: “One nation, and only one, meets the
specifications of this prophecy [Rev. 13]; it points unmistakably to the United States of
America.”

Building up to the Mark of the Beast: 445 “WHEN the leading churches of the United States,
uniting in such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to
enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, THEN Protestant America will have formed
an image to the Roman hierarchy, and the inflictions of civil penalties upon dissenters inevitable
result.”

Mark of the Beast first mention: GC449

Perfectionism: 486-487 “Our acts, our words, even our most secret motives, ALL HAVE THEIR
WEIGHT IN DECIDING OUR DESTINY for weal or woe. Though they may be FORGOTTEN
BY US, they will bear their testimony to justify or condemn.”[detailed more]
GC488 “those who would share the benefit of the Savior’s mediation should permit nothing to
interfere with their duty to PERFECT HOLINESS in the fear of God. ... The subject of the
sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God.”

Chapter 35: GC5630582; U.S. Protestants and Roman Catholics merge to kill SDAs.

 

National Sunday Law coming: 573 “In the movements now in progress in the United States to
secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are
following in the steps of papists. Nay, more THEY ARE OPENING THE DOOR FOR THE
PAPACY TO REGAIN in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old
World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principle
object contemplated is the ENFORCEMENT OF SUNDAY observance -- a custom which
originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority.”

Last day focus on Sabbath, not salvation: 582-592 Chapter 36; The Impending Conflict [Law and
Sabbath]

We are still Babylon: 603 “This Scripture [Rev. 18:1,2,4] points forward to a time when the
announcement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel of Revelation 14 (verse 8), is
to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the
various organizations which constitute Babylon since that message was FIRST GIVEN IN THE
SUMMER OF 1844.”

THE issue is the SABBATH, not Jesus: GC604 “Fearful is the issue to which the WORLD is to
be brought. The powers of EARTH, uniting to war against the commandments of God, will
decree that “all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” (Revelation 13:16), shall
conform to the customs of the church by the observance of the FALSE SABBATH. All who
refuse compliance will be visited with CIVIL PENALTIES, and it will finally be declared that
they are deserving of death. On the other hand the law of God enjoining the Creator’s REST
DAY demands obedience and threatens wrath against all who transgress its precepts. With the
issue thus CLEARLY brought before him, whoever shall trample upon God’s law to obey a
human enactment RECEIVES THE MARK OF THE BEAST; he accepts the sign of allegiance
to the power he chooses to obey instead of God.”

Sabbath rejecters are doomed: GC605 “But not one is made to suffer the wrath of God until the
truth has been brought home to his mind and conscience and has been rejected.” ... “The Sabbath
will be great TEST of loyalty, for it is the POINT OF TRUTH especially controverted.”

Former SDAs, myself, are especially doomed: GC 608 “As the storm approaches a large class
who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified by obedience
to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.”

666, Revelation 13, concerns the Sabbath: GC 615-616 “This argument will appear conclusive;
and a DECREE will finally be issued against those who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth
commandment, denouncing them as deserving of the SEVEREST PUNISHMENT and giving the
people liberty, after a certain time, to put them to DEATH. Romanism in the Old World and
apostate Protestantism in the New will pursue a similar course toward those who honor all the
divine precepts.”

 

Last day SDAs must be sinless: GC 619 “Though God’s people will be surrounded by enemies ...
yet the anguish which they suffer is not a dread of persecution for the truth’s sake; THEY FEAR
THAT EVERY SIN HAS NOT BEEN REPENTED OF, and that through some fault in
themselves they will fail to realize the fulfillment of the Savior’s promise: I ‘will keep thee from
the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world.’ Revelation 3:10. IF THEY
COULD HAVE THE ASSURANCE OF PARDON they would not SHRINK from torture or
death; but should they become unworthy, and lose their lives because of their own defects of
character, then God’s holy name would be reproached.”

More perfectionism: GC 620 “SATAN LEADS MANY TO BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL
OVERLOOK UNFAITHFULNESS IN THE MINOR AFFAIRS OF LIFE. .. All who will
endeavor to excuse or conceal their sins, and permit them to remain upon the books of heaven,
unconfessed and unforgiven, will be overcome by Satan.”

Satan’s grand entrance teaching Sunday worship: GC 624 “As the crowning act in the great
drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. .... he claims to have changed the
Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed.”

SDAs flee from us: GC 626 ‘As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against
commandment keepers shall withdraw the protection of government and abandon them to those
who desire their destruction, the people of God will FLEE from the cities and villages and
associate together in companies, dwelling in the most DESOLATE AND SOLITARY places.
Many will find refuge in the strongholds of the mountains.”

 

Russ Kelly:

I can only say 'thank you' for this thread. It exposes 'wolves in sheep's clothing' on this board. One is running loose right now in another forum, affirming that he is a believe in grace alone minus works.

In due time, I will also show how he lies.

 

Has anyone actually been to an SDA prophecy confrence? I believe it is a requirement for every SDA Church to house a prophecy confrence at least once every three years. It was pretty interesting interpertations, unbiblical but interesting. Of course they are spiritualists and do not believe in a tribulation period or a literal antichrist but only that the antichrist is the devil in all of us, the spirit of rebellion that we all are capable of posessing. I also remember their view of the dragon as being a sense of evil in the governments of the world today.

Does anyone know if they believe in a literal devil and hell?

 

He's not posting here because only Baptists can post in this forum.

 

Until you post some data to back up your statements, they are NOTHING BUT GIBBERISH. </font>[/QUOTE]I posted several links on page one of this thread:

More in next post . . .

 

Here are more:
Site on Ellen White showing here failed prophecies (in the name of God) and teachings that are contrary to the Bible:
http://www.ellenwhite.org/

SDA Outreach site:
http://www.sdaoutreach.org/index.cfm
Book online showing teachings from Ellen White’s writings:

Ellen White’s teachings are endorsed by the SDA. Link to current SDA position on Ellen White:
http://www.isitso.org/guide/sdaegwnow.html