SEVENTH- DAY ADVNETIST

A. INTRODUCTION

This is a Christian protestant denomination with an emphasis on observation of the Sabbath and
the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. It grew out of the millerite movement led by
Baptist day preacher and bible student William miller in 1833. He believed and shared publicly
that the second advent of Jesus Christ would occur roughly in the years 1843-1844. The
denomination was formally established in 1863. Among its founders was Ellen G white. Seventh
day Adventist believes in the trinity and the infallibility of the scripture. Just like the Orthodox
Church it has different teachings including the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of
investigative judgment which states that divine judgment of professed Christians started in 1844.
The church emphasizes a diet health, religious liberty and conservative lifestyle. It is governed
by a general conference with smaller regions by division, union conferences and local
conferences. The seventh day has a worldwide membership of over 20million. It is distributed
over 215 countries, operates 7500 schools, over 100 post-secondary institutions, several hospitals
and a humanitarian aid organization known as Adventist Development and Relief Agency
(ADRA).
 B. HISTORY OF THE SDA CHURCH
The church was founded in 1863 during the period of the second great awakening.
The founding fathers were Hiram Edison, James springer white, joseph bates and J.N
Andrews.
The second great awakening was stimulated by having many bible societies which
wanted to ensure that people had bibles for their personal use to read for themselves
instead of people preaching to them. This was to remove many evils before the second
coming of Christ.
The church was formed out of the millerite movement by one Baptist William
miller who focused on prophecy from the book of Daniel 8:14 and revelation. He taught
that Jesus is coming back in October 22nd 1844, when this didn’t happen the followers
were disappointed, the day was known as the great disappointment. Following this, many
people went back to their former churches but others emphasized that the prophecy was
true and continued to study the prophecy. They also learned that no one knows the day or
the hour (mark 13:31-32). Later they learned many other things and formed conferences
or formal groups and identified series of truths that were forgotten or neglected and
summarized them. Ellen g white played a great role during this time.
Initially they were two groups:
(i) Great second advent movement
(ii) Sabbatarian Adventist

They later groups came together to be named as the seventh day Adventist. A few years later
they formed what is now called the general conference of Seventh - day Adventist.
C. CULTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEVENTH DAY
ADVENTISTS.
1. They teach that if one does not keep the Sabbath they cannot be saved. There is
no salvation outside the seventh day Adventist church.

2. Ellen G white taught that all other churches except the seventh day Adventist
church were teaching lies from the devil and that only its members are true
believers. Prayers in the other churches are answered by the devil.
3. Only those who worship on Saturday will be saved in the last days before Christ
returns. Those who worship on Sunday will be the mark of the beast. They believe
that it’s the only true last remnant church and others will be condemned.
4. They believe that Jesus is Michael the archangel and that this was his name also
in the old testament
5. They believe that the atonement through Jesus is not complete only past sins are
forgiven by grace.
6. They believe that Jesus is in heaven cleaning the sanctuary in the heaven before
he returns to the earth. This is not found in the bible but a man- made doctrine.
7. They believe that you have to stand before God during judgment without a
mediator.

8. They believe that a person can be without sin in the world in this physical body

9. The seventh day Adventist prophecy that Jesus second coming was in 1843 and
1844 was false and in an attempt to cover up for this false prophecy, a teaching
called investigative judgment came up whereby everything you do or don’t do is
recorded for judgment day

10. They believe in the total destruction of the wicked and that they will cease to
exist after the final judgment.
11. They believe that Satan and his angels will be punished eternally. They believe
that Satan is the scapegoat that the sins of believers are laid upon him and he and
the sins are finally burned up.

12. They believe that you have to be a vegetarian and there is nowhere in the bible
where it is emphasized. Also it cannot be related to our salvation.
13. They believe you should revere Ellen G white because she had the spirit of
prophecy. They believe her writings are as inspired as the bible and are used as a
source of truth.
D. SEVVENTH DAY ADVENTIST TEACHING ON GOD, MAN,
SALVATION AND ESCHATOLOGY.

ON GOD:
They believe on the trinity, God the father the lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. God
the father he is s personal and spiritual being Omni potent Omni present omniscient

The son is the same nature as God the father became flesh, died foot eh sin of mankind ,
raised form the dead and ascended to heaven where he intercede for mankind
The holy spirt was with the father and son in creation, incarnation and redemption. He
inspired the scriptures; he convicts human beings, gives power to believers, and gives
spiritual gifts.
Genesis 1:1. John 14:16-18, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
ON MAN:
Seventh day Adventists believe that the opening chapters of genesis is merely history
They believe that the earth was created in a six day period about 6,000 years ago and a
great flood destroyed man and animal except those saved on Noah’s ark
They believe that there is another world somewhere on the universe populated by
intelligent beings. They believe that the world creation was the last and that the sons of
God of Job 1; 6-12 are the Adams of unfallen world meeting God.
Adventists believe that inorganic matter was created before creation and changed to its
present form during creation.

ON SALVATION:
Seventh day Adventists believed that before Satan deceived man, everything was perfect.
Then Satan deceived man by telling him that God is not fair, harsh and deprives others
what they are supposed to have. This made man doubt Gods love and trustworthiness.
Later the devil claimed ownership of the world.
The “great controversy” raged on between God and Satan. Jesus settled this and God paid
the ultimate price for our sins. The picture that God was unfair and untrustworthy was
 reversed. Jesus was the perfect price for our sins; he died on our behalf. They believe that
Jesus reconciles us to God and the Holy Spirit assures us that we are forgiven. Jesus
overcame the devil and death. The “great controversy is on for all people between Christ
and Satan.

ON ESCHATOLOGY:

The seventh day Adventist beliefs on end times are based on their interpretations of prophecy
depending on nations or events or historical persons. They believe that Jesus will come back
physically before the a thousand years. They believe that before the coming of Christ there will
be a global crisis with the Sabbath being the main issue. When Jesus comes, the righteous will be
taken to heaven for a thousand years. After the thousand years, the, the unsaved will be
destroyed and the saved will live on a recreated earth for eternity. Books used are David,
revelation and Matthew.

The following is a summary of seventh day teachings on end time events:

1. Christ ministry in the haven sanctuary

2. Second coming of Christ
3. Death and resurrection
4. Millennium and end of sin
5. New earth.
E. HOW TO EVANGALIZE THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS.
1) They insist that one must keep the Sabbath to be saved. They can be made to understand
that no one will be justified before God for keeping the law (Romans 3:20). They can be
educated that we are saved by grace and not our good works (Ephesians 2:8-9)
2) The seventh day Adventist can be further enlightened that Sunday worshippers are not
the mark of the beast themselves as they claim. The bible clearly states that an actual
mark will be placed on hands and foreheads of those that will accept the new world order
from the anti-Christ. This understanding can make them skeptical about their doctrines.
3) They believe that atonement through Jesus is not complete. However, it is written that
Jesus died and entered once in the holy of holies and obtained eternal redemption for us
with his own blood (Hebrews 9:24), therefore, through this contradiction they can clearly
be shown that they are being led astray.
4) They believe that Jesus went to heaven to clean a sanctuary for us. They can be
evangelized by being given the truth that he actually went to prepare a place so that
where he is we can also be there. John 14:2-3
5) They can be evangelized by showing them that in Jesus we have a mediator who is
seated at the right hand of God interceding for us since they believe that they will face
God alone (Timothy 2:5).
6) They believe that one can live without sin by effort. They can be made to understand that
their insistence on works does not have a biblical backing because we are all sinners
(Romans 3:23).
7) The seventh day’s main founding prophecy was that Jesus would return in 1843 and
1844, since this clearly did not take place, the present day Adventists can be shown that
they are following the wrong path. They can be educated through scriptures that no one
knows the day or the hour.
8) Their doctrine that Satan will not be punished eternally is clearly wrong. They can be
exposed to the true scriptures that tell us that Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire
and be tormented forever and ever. This truth may deter them from trusting their
doctrines that aren’t factual
F. APLLICATION AND CONCLUSION
 The church was formed out of the views of people who thought that they had
some special revelation from God and that other people should adopt their new
messages and prophecies. Their revelations proved to be carnal and the group
later broke away citing frustrations and great disappointment. The messages were
clearly not inspired by the Holy Spirit and were therefore man-made.
Lesson: From this we learn that there were and are false prophets. It is upon us an s
Christians to discern the prophets we hear so as not to be led astray.

 The church is run and managed by a general conference, which reads and
interprets the bible their own way and other people follow what has been
organized and tailored for them without question or critique.
Lesson: salvation is personal and everyone should have a personal relationship with God.
Reading own scripture is critical to having a personal experience with God.

 The church follows the traditions of the founding fathers that was passed on to
them, in some instances, some of them are considered to be as inspiring as the
bible (June 1995 document “ a statement of confidence in the spirit of prophecy”
this has made the word of God ineffective to seventh day Adventists.
Lesson: this can be applied to our faith today since many other people try to use the word
of God differently and/or introduce traditions and rituals not founded in the bible. We
should always be vigilant and call out ritualism.
CONCLUSION
 The seventh day Adventist needs re-organization because of what has been
foresaid.

 They need to go back to the basics of the word of God, stick to what it says
instead of relying on what other people have said or prophesied since this was the
genesis of their problems.
 Additionally, the church should avoid inflicting many rules on their followers
which are not part of the plan for salvation
 Avoid teachings that are not in the word of God.