You are not logged in.
Keith said: Tom, I do agree with you on the 1888 message. A lot was lost there.
As I have looked further into the Rod, I have found one misconception, which you hinted to. The Shepherds Rod did not morph into the Branch.
Koresh was part of the Rod movement, but then left and started his own church, the branch. They are completely 2 different organizations. The fire and destruction from ATF did not effect the Davidian SDA or Rod people, just the Branch.
My question is, what are your thoughts on the fact that it is still within spiritual Israel and it can not be shaken loose?
In relation to the verse quoted before.
Acts 5:38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
5:39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Keith, from Georgia
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Norris replies:
While it is true that the 1888 Message was rejected in Battle Creek, and covered up in Takoma Park, the details of this infamous Gospel Debate are not lost, as the church leaders have dishonestly claimed. I entered the White Estate in 1979 and found the facts. I discovered Arthur White hiding a large collection of 1888 materials that told the real story.
Hidden Documents in the White Estate
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Seventh-Day- … uments.htm
The White Estate was hiding this large amount of material in order to deceive the public and the Adventist Community about Ellen White’s true views. This fraud was uncovered some time ago, in 1979, but the SDA leaders have since covered it up again, trying to pretend nothing wrong has taken place in the White Estate, when they know this is not true. Thus the cover-up and manipulation about Ellen White is alive and well within the Adventist Community.
Today, the facts about Ellen White and the 1888 debates are known; the White Estate has been promoting a false view of Ellen White and church history all these years, even to this very day. Shame on them! This massive and long running fraud is the real reason why the SDA’s are self-destructing in confusion, anger, and schism.
The SDA leaders should repent for promoting such false and misleading views about Ellen White and her teachings all these years. This massive fraud has caused a lot of unnecessary debate and damage to the Advent Movement, including the development of a number of breakaway cults such as the Dividians and the Branch Dividians. There would have been no such groups had the SDA’s been honest about Ellen White and church history.
Second, it is true that David Koresh made up his own doctrines and invented a new “Branch” of Dividians. But both Houteff and Koresh were cut from the same Old Covenant cloth of incorrect, SDA doctrines. Both embraced the IJ and both viewed Ellen White as a modern day prophet that others, like themselves, could imitate.
So it is the IJ and the false teachings about Ellen White that are “hard to shake.” These false and fatal doctrines open the door to even more errors and cultic hubris. Thus, all Davidians have most everything wrong. None are Protestant. They have little knowledge of the genuine Gospel, much less about Adventist history or prophecy.
Houteff’s legalistic theology, which is nothing more than confused prophetic nonsense, was based on many SDA errors, especially the IJ and this hermeneutical myth from the White Estate that Ellen White has doctrinal authority. None of which were true.
Had the SDA’s not promoted Ellen White as a latter day prophet with doctrinal authority, these unstable amateurs would not have thought that they too could have visions, as well as proclaim new doctrines.
Moreover, Ellen White never believed that the IJ was part of the 1st Angels Message, as the Takoma Park apologists have claimed. That was never her position at any time in her life. Which means something is very wrong in the White Estate.
Let all understand: Ellen White would have supported Dr. Ford at Glacier View, not those legalists that claimed the IJ was located in the 1st Angels Message, and that it was a sacred “pillar” that could not be changed or removed. Ellen White has been horribly misunderstood and manipulated by the White Estate, and this crime needs to stop.
The cover-up of 1888 combined with the errors of the Takoma Park apologists about Ellen White, set the stage for some within Adventism to become doctrinally delusional, thinking that they too could have visions and declare new doctrine like Ellen White supposedly did. There were a number that have done this.
Both Houteff and Koresh quoted approvingly from Ellen White, even as they thought they could also have visions and dreams to correct the church. They were actually trying to be like Ellen White, thinking they too could be a latter day prophets. Such false assumptions were based on the errors of the White Estate, not on the New Testament.
The Takoma Park leaders planted evil seeds of doctrinal confusion and error that has brought forth poisonous fruit for all to see. False doctrine, when fully mature, brings forth even more false, anti-Gospel doctrine, as well as theological confusion and schism. Look around at the Adventist wasteland and see the results. The Advent Movement is near death.
Gal. 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Let all understand: the failure of the Adventists to realize that:
1) The Cannon closed with the last book of Revelation, and that
2) Ellen White has no doctrinal authority,
Facilitated the development of the delusional Davidians, and the later rise of the even more absurd, David Koresh. These cultic-minded groups could not have gained traction had it not been for the fundamental errors of the SDA’s, which they still refuse to acknowledge and repudiate.
In other words, without this false teaching about Ellen White from the early Takoma Park leaders, and later the White Estate, there would have been no Davidians and no David Koresh or WACO disaster. Nor could Glacier View have taken place, much less the great schism, which followed.
Such is the price for this great deception about the Ellen White and the IJ, which is still taking place today.
The SDA’s have almost destroyed themselves because of their false views about Ellen White and the Judgment, and yet, they still refuse to repent and correct the record. If they continue on this present course, it will be fatal.
I repeat: Ellen White did not have doctrinal authority at any time when she was alive. Nor did she ever place the IJ in the 1st Angels Message; much less claim it to be a “pillar” in any of the Three Angels Messages. Such facts change everything for the Adventist Community, even as they prove the White Estate guilty of promoting a massive, long running publishing fraud.
Although there is no question that Koresh taught some very different doctrines from Houteff, they were both delusional SDA’s, and they both share common, SDA errors, even as Koresh made up many more wild, anti-Gospel teachings.
As for the remaining Dividians today, they are obviously trying to distance themselves from Koresh and his ultra extreme views. Regardless, they have no Gospel truth, nor do they understand Protestant hermeneutics or Adventist Eschatology correctly, much less the genuine “pillars” that form the Three Angels Messages.
None of these Davidian groups have any worthwhile doctrines from God or Christ. They teach a confused and legalistic Gospel that is incoherent and outdated, just like Traditional Adventism, from which they came.
Unless these confused Adventists, as well as all others, repent of the their many false and legalistic doctrines, including the IJ and Ellen White, they are doomed. The Bible does not support what they teach, nor should anyone think they have any spiritual credibility or Gospel knowledge. They do not.
Today, it is time for genuine Gospel Reform in every church and denomination, starting with the confused and cultic SDA’s. As Protestants, the Adventists must repudiate the IJ, and this idea that Ellen White has any doctrinal authority. She has none, and she never said otherwise.
The Fraud of Traditional Adventism
http://www.atomorrow.net/fluxbb/viewtopic.php?id=235
Ellen White
http://www.atomorrow.net/fluxbb/viewtopic.php?id=225
It is time for all within the Adventist Community to take a "time out" and get their doctrinal bearings and history straight. The church must stop both the pluralism and the propaganda in order to find their way back to the original fundamentals that control the Adventist Apocalyptic.
The General Conference must repent for both 1888 and Glacier View, even as they confess to the massive publishing fraud in the White Estate that must be exposed and corrected.
It is time for the Denomination to repent and tell the truth about Ellen White and the genuine pillars that define the Three Angels Messages. The present wicked charade is not sustainable.
Repentance and Gospel Reform is the only way for the Advent Movement to go forward and complete its eschatological mission to prepare the church for the great Tribulation and the 2nd Coming. Is anyone listening?
I hope this helps.
Tom Norris for All Experts.Com & Adventist Reform
Offline
Why I Love Adventism
22 December 2016 | JASON HINES, Spectrum Magazine.org
http://spectrummagazine.org/article/201 … -adventism
As we come to the close of another year, I am willing to admit that this year has been a tough one for me in Adventism. From both a personal and institutional perspective, things happened this year that troubled me with regard to how this church treats the least of us.
These things trouble me because I have a long history with the Adventist Church. I was born into the church and baptized at eight years old. While I was in college, I took some time to explore other religions and denominations but stayed with Adventism. When I left my legal career to become an academic, the first thing I did was get a Master’s in Religion from the Seminary at Andrews University.
Now I am sure that my archive on this website (Spectrum) will prove that I do not love everything about Adventism. However, let this be abundantly clear. I do love my church.
I do not think there is any other religious movement in Christianity that has the potential to be as dynamic as Adventism. It is my love of the church that leads to my criticism. I thought this year would be a good time to remind myself (and maybe some of you) of the reasons I love the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
1) We attempt the one thing most Christian denominations avoid -– unification of the Old and New Testament. This is not what I like the most, but I think it is the most telling. Most Christian denominations have tried to de-emphasize the Old Testament even as they say they are upholding it. Adventism takes a very unified look at the church of God. Hence, the seventh-day Sabbath, the health laws, etc. You do not find many other Christian denominations who believe in so much of the Old Testament.1
2) Adventism is more dedicated to truth than other denominations I have known. Adventists want to get it right. That is just a fact. It does not mean we always do, but we are invested in the effort. The church has spent almost two centuries combing through the word of God in order to discover the truth. You have to respect that.
3) Adventism’s theology is the most consistent of the Christian denominations that I studied, both biblically and within itself. Because of this dedication, Adventism has done a better job of filling in the gaps. As a friend of mine once said, “Adventism just makes sense.”2
4) Adventism holds a lot of truths in tension: faith-works and law-grace. Some of the oldest disputes of Christianity, in which faiths have split on the question of either-or, Adventism has historically answered by saying, “both.” I like that.
5) The doctrine of Present Truth –- I love this doctrine. Adventism realizes (at least abstractly) that our understanding of truth is dynamic. So we have left space to revise the truth as we understand things better.
6) System and Order – The Adventist Church is organized … is it ever organized. I appreciate this because it does give members the sense that they are involved in a worldwide movement, which they are of course. It is great to know that there is a system that is supporting Adventism around the world, and that a member's contributions (monetary and otherwise) can go to assist brothers and sisters in Christ from all over.
7) Adventism has a positive effect on society – whether it is humanitarian aid, hospitals, schools, or local efforts, Adventism makes a determined attempt to influence societies where they are.
There you have it. Seven reasons why I love the Seventh-day Adventist Church. When things in your religion are not going the way you think they should, it is important to reach back and remember why God led you here. That is why I love this church and have no intention of leaving it.
http://spectrummagazine.org/article/201 … -adventism
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why Adventism is FAILING| A Rebuttal By Tom Norris, January 2017
Today, there is little to love about Adventism, which is in state of confusion, denial, and crisis. Few support the 28 Fundamentals, which is why millions of once loyal members have left the church and more leave all the time. The Review Publishing House, a Pioneer institution, has been shut down and so too most all the SDA Book stores, even as the NAD is separating from the hierarchy because American women refuse to be treated as if they were living under the Male dominated, Old Covenant. The list of Denominational failures and false doctrines goes on and on.
In other words, the modern Advent Movement is (once again) self-destructing for all to see. How many times does this have to happen before the leaders learn from their previous mistakes in Battle Creek and Takoma Park? The Adventists have clearly lost their way in the 21st century, even as they deny the need for Gospel Reform and pretend all is well. The hierarchical leaders are blind by choice; delusional and corrupt.
Adventism today is a closed, cultic system, which features the same mind control techniques of Scientology or Mormonism. By endlessly promoting myths and phony church history, they create a fictional world that features gross theological error and religious fraud. Those, like Dr, Ford, that refuse to embrace such a false and manipulated narrative, are driven away, considered heretics or suppressive people that fight against what is viewed as truth.
This is why there is no freedom of the press within Adventist media, much less any discussion about much needed doctrinal reform, including at Spectrum or AToday. These publications are not independent or honest as they pretend. They routinely censor much needed criticism, all the while promoting trite and false views of those loyal to the hierarchy.
The vast SDA media empire, which includes legions of stealth websites, is nothing more than cultic propaganda, all calculated to, not only control the members, but to deceive the world into thinking that Adventism is a vibrant and Gospel based movement when it is neither. (Adventism is Old Covenant based and dying.)
The recent Spectrum article about why Adventism is great is an example of this mindless propaganda. It seems as if a child wrote this drivel from the 1950’s, which is not helpful. How can the issues be resolved if the leaders refuse to acknowledge that there are any serious errors that must be corrected? How can the Denomination resolve the problems if they mischaracterize the facts and censor the critics, only allowing one side of the discussion to be heard? The church cannot act in a totalitarian manner, much less deprive any of their right to freely speak and be heard.
Today, the Adventist leaders (and media) are blindly defending a false and impossible narrative from Battle Creek, as well as a confused Gospel and an impossible view of eschatology. Millions have left the church as a result, making the present situation unsustainable. Denial is not the answer, and neither is propaganda, which will not work in the 21st century, as there are too many stubborn facts online for all to see. Dr. Ford educated many Adventists about the Gospel and they will not be fooled by the diversionary double-talk that comes from the multi-million dollar media empire, which includes Spectrum.
This pro SDA article about why Adventism deserves loyalty, underscores the lack of honest and rational thinking within Adventism. It is insulting to any educated Adventist. Both the author and the publisher are making fools of themselves as they disrespect the intelligence of the Adventist Community with such trite, cultic drivel. Mindless propaganda will not help Adventism move forward. It only pushes people away and hides the real issues. Adventism needs to face up to their many errors and repent, not defend error and myth as if true.
Where did all the thinking SDA’s and credible journalists go? Out the door obviously. Adventists used to be educated, thoughtful people who prized Gospel truth, including honest church history. But no longer. They have become dishonest fools, whose incompetent leaders act like Mormons or Scientologists. Pitiful. Anyone that thinks Spectrum is an open or honest publication needs to think again. They are pimps for the hierarchy, which controls them. Shame on Spectrum. They have long ago become part of the problem. They are clueless on purpose. Fighting against Adventist Reform through non-stop censorship and cultic manipulation.
However, for those whose minds still function, here is a simple refutation of the latest propaganda. The fact that Tom Norris is not allowed to post any comments in the Spectrum Forum changes nothing, nor prevents his views from being placed on the record. Censorship will never solve anything, nor is it a substitute for the facts. Censorship only covers up problems and causes more trouble by delaying the necessary corrections. Those that operate by such a policy are only proving that they are not following the Gospel.
The 7 points put forth in Spectrum to defend Adventism are easily refuted, starting with the first point, which is nothing more than cultic heresy that wars against Protestant theology. This article is very wrong from start to finish. Spectrum should be ashamed, not only for publishing such propaganda, but for its’ policy to censor and silence the honest discussion of the issues.
7 Reasons Why NOT to Love Adventism: by Tom Norris, Jan 2017; A Rebuttal of: Why I Love Adventism| by JASON HINES, Spectrum Magazine.org, 22 December 2016
http://spectrummagazine.org/article/201 … -adventism
1) Heretical Hermeneutics: Old & New Testament NOT Equal
While the author gets high marks for dealing with the main doctrinal issue that is destroying the Advent Movement, he takes the wrong side of the debate. This SDA hermeneutic that gives equal weight to both the Old and New Testament is fatal, inexcusable error, which represents the repudiation of the Protestant Gospel. Here is the core issue from 1888 that must be correctly understood and resolved before Adventism can move forward. Uriah Smith would be proud of the present doctrine, while Ellen White would be furious.
In fact, it was this specific theological error by Uriah Smith that caused the 1888 debates that destroyed the Battle Creek Empire. Why does the hierarchy today want to embrace Smith’s catastrophic doctrines? What good can come from making the same legalistic mistake over and over? Just because the White Estate hid the 1888 debate, it still took place and was the reason why the Battle Creek Empire collapsed 12 years later. Official denial does not change history; rather it only hides the lessons that should have been learned, forcing the church to repeat the same mistakes.
Here is where the early SDA’s went wrong: In an attempt to refute their Sabbatarian critics, Uriah Smith claimed that the Old Covenant Law of the 10 Commandments was valid and active in the New Covenant. Thus Smith blended both the Old and the New Covenants together, even as he taught that sanctification and law keeping, when blended with faith in Christ, were necessary for salvation. Smith’s book about the Two Covenants became standard doctrine for all SDA’s until Waggoner stood up in 1886 and declared it false. Ellen White soon agreed, but both she and Waggoner lost the debate and were both exiled from Battle Creek.
Once in Takoma Park, the White Estate suppressed the 1888 debates so they could promote Smith’s views all these years. They hid thousands of Ellen White documents that clearly showed the true story so they could deceive the church. And this is what they are still doing today. White Estate is a crime scene, and it is only a matter of time before they will be forced to confess and correct the record.
Let everyone understand: the 1888 debate was a replay of the same theological issue that faced the apostolic church, which Paul writes about in Galatians. Luther also correctly understood that this same error of blending the Old and New Covenants together was standard Roman Catholic doctrine. As a result, the Reformation was based upon separating the Two Covenants, keeping them distinct from each other, with only the New Covenant binding on the church. Which is the opposite of what Smith taught and what the SDA leaders promote today.
The SDA’s should be ashamed for not only taking a wrong course in 1888, but also for covering up the debate so that modern Adventists cannot understand what took place in 1888 or why? Waggoner was correct, and so too Ellen White. There is no such Protestant concept of blending or unifying the Two Covenants. None!
Uriah Smith was wrong then and he is wrong today. It is a fatal mistake to confuse the Two Covenants, or think they are equal. They are not. Jesus is far superior to Moses, and so too the NC far above the OC. The SDA’s are being destroyed by this great error, which is theological madness and eschatological suicide. The Advent Movement is Protestant, and so it must always remain.
No educated SDA should Bragg that few denominations “believe so much of the Old Testament.” To follow the Old Covenant means death, not Eternal Life. The New Covenant stands high above the Old Covenant. Christians are only under the authority of Jesus and the New Testament. They are not under Moses or the Old Testament whatsoever. Shame on SDA’s for teaching such heresy.
Until the SDA’s fully repudiate the Old Covenant, and declare themselves free from the Law of Moses, which includes the 10C’s, they cannot claim to be Christian, much less Protestant. It is not possible to follow both Moses and Christ, though many do. Those that try this stunt have fallen from grace. They are as cursed as were the Galatian Jews that also tried to blend the Two Covenants into one religion. But Paul made it clear that no Christian is under any Old Covenant law, nor should the Two Covenants be blended together. To do so is to renounce the Gospel.
Gal. 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Gal. 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Gal. 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Gal. 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
Gal. 1:7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Gal. 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
Gal. 1:9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
It is mind boggling in this day and age, for any Adventist to embrace such false, legalistic, Roman Catholic theology. How can the same doctrine that Paul and Luther condemned become valid doctrine for Adventists? How can Uriah Smith’s doctrine of the Two Covenants, which Ellen White dramatically condemned during 1888 debates, be embraced today as wonderful truth for Adventists?
Something is very wrong with the SDA hierarchy and the White Estate today. Like the 1st century Jews, organized Adventism, with its’ false doctrine of tithing, Jewish Food Laws, and male control of the church, is corrupt to the core. The leaders are not being truthful about the Gospel or church history. There must be wholesale change and reform within the Advent Movement. Old Covenant Adventism must give way to New Covenant Adventism. This is the only solution.
Today, the legalistic SDA’s live under the curse of God, - and it shows. They are self-destructing for all to see, and it is their own fault. The only cure is for them to repent of Uriah Smith’s errors of Old Covenant law keeping so they can embrace serious Gospel Reform.
2) SDA’s Confused About Truth; Embrace Myths
Today, SDA’s are not truthful. However, there was a time when Adventists were honest, obsessed with both doctrinal truth and the urgency of eschatology. While they made errors and mistakes, they did so sincerely, making corrections as they discovered more theological insight. That is how they discovered the forgotten doctrine of the Second Coming as the Judgment day and the end of the world. They also went on to correctly understand that Sunday was false doctrine, and thus formulated a Sabbatarian based eschatology that made some sense in their 19th century world.
The SDA’s, which represented the 3rd Angels Message, referred to their Millerite based theological package as Present truth. However, Adventist theology was never static or complete. It is progressive in nature, moving forward from the 1st to the 2nd and then to the 3rd Angels Messages, with only one message being active at any given time. The final “platform of truth” would conclude with what the Pioneers called the 4th Angels Message.
This progressive point about the 4th Angels Message is what made the 1888 debates so important. According to Ellen White, the debate over Galatians represented the paradigm shift from the 3rd Angels Message to the 4th message, which teaching had always been part of early SDA eschatology. She viewed this controversy as a time when the church was supposed to go forward from the 3rd to the 4th Angels Message with a clear and powerful Gospel that would shake the world.
Unfortunately, by the 1880’s, the Battle Creek leaders were certain that they had all the truth necessary, even though there was no 4th Angels Message. Consequently, they refused to consider that the 3rd Angels Message held any error, much less about the 7th day Sabbath, which was the greatest of all theological pillars of the 3rd Angels Message.
But Ellen White disagreed, and there was great doctrinal debate, which was never resolved. Twelve years after 1888, the Battle Creek Empire collapsed in confusion and schism. The church was so divided that Uriah Smith had to be fired from the Review in 1902 as the Denomination was forced to retreat to Takoma Park. So much for having the truth. What they SDA’s ended up with in Battle Creek was not truth, but a massive and humiliating schism that drove them to Takoma Park.
The Battle Creek SDA’s self-destructed because they could no longer agree on what was true doctrine and what was not. However, thanks to Waggoner and the 1888 debates, the Advent people heard the genuine Gospel, which many accepted. But the leaders pushed back and promoted Law, causing great schism. The 4th Angels Message was never understood nor developed, and the Advent Movement has never again come close to making this necessary transition. Once in Takoma Park, they re-started the 3rd Angels Message and repeated the same mistakes from Battle Creek.
During of the decade of the 1890’s, SDA truth made little sense as the Denomination became hopelessly split between 1) Uriah Smith’s traditional views, and 2) Waggoner’s new views, which were supported by Ellen White, and 3) Canright’s view, which was to repudiate and renounce Adventism. These three viewpoints overwhelmed the once unified message of truth that had characterized 19th century SDA theology for decades. The Advent Movement was fragmenting and self-destructing for all to see because there was no clear-cut truth, only confusion.
At the turn of the century, the Denomination fled Battle Creek in a desperate attempt to save the Third Angels Message, which was so near death. Once in Takoma Park, the leaders hid the 1888 debates and promoted a false, sanitized history that avoided the real issues. What was called truth in Takoma Park was really a fabrication developed by the early apologists to hide the unresolved doctrinal debates that destroyed the Battle Creek Empire. This fraud led to Glacier View, which was essentially a repeat of the 1888 debates, with the same outcome of doctrinal confusion and schism.
Let everyone understand: much of what modern SDA’s promote as truth has turned out to be myth and error and it is time to face up to such embarrassing, but true, facts and make the necessary corrections. The SDA’s have no Present Truth today. They don’t even have past truth, because they have never been honest about their history, which must be better understood before the church can move forward to the next level.
To tell the truth about 1888 is to overturn what the Denomination has been teaching as truth for generations. But they continue to promote fraud instead of honest history. The SDA’s are very much like the arrogant Jews, who embraced one false tradition after another, censoring those that pushed for correction and reform. In fact, the White Estate has been hiding the truth about Ellen White’s views for generations. Fraud is the opposite of truth. No one should respect such massive dishonesty; much less pretend that SDA’s today are honest searchers for truth. They are the opposite. They run from truth, censoring those that call for reform. SDA’s are not honest; they do not have correct doctrines, not even about the Sabbath, which they misunderstand.
Here is real truth: doctrinally speaking; the SDA’s are wretched, disgusting, and blind to the Gospel. They have more fraud and false doctrine than most others. This is why they need to repent and reform. Not because they are correct, but because they are far from it.
Jesus teaches that the last church is full of error, blind to the Gospel and unable to read the Bible correctly. The SDA’s were not exempted from this harsh pre-Advent Judgment that calls for repentance and reform, not self-congratulations for having so much truth. Jesus has predicted, and judged Adventism and it is not good. Jesus is correct, not the delusional SDA’s.
Rev. 3:17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
3) SDA Theology Irrational
Although the Three Angels Messages contain great truths for the church, the SDA’s have bungled this great eschatological paradigm, misunderstanding their own teachings. They have confused themselves by teachings myths as if they were facts, and then going to war to defend error. They are their own worst enemy.
While SDA theology is not as insane, or as successful, as Mormonism or Scientology, it is a confused, corrupt disaster, complete with bizarre and cultic doctrines like the IJ, which the leaders refuse to repudiate. Neither the Old nor New Testaments teach a celestial judgment of the saints far out in deep space. Nor do serious Protestants practice tithing or follow Jewish food laws, much less Old Covenant Sabbath keeping. This is why millions have left Adventism and why the church cannot grow today.
Moreover, Adventist doctrine cannot even be called Protestant because it violates the core doctrines of the Reformation. They can’t even define the Gospel correctly, much less understand and embrace the Priesthood of Believers, which they deny in practice by their doctrine of tithing and refusing to ordain women.
Adventism today is an embarrassment to any educated, Gospel believing person. It only makes sense to those being paid to promote it. But for those that have to fund it, and depend on SDA theology for Eternal Life, it is worthless nonsense from a corrupt cult that is all about money and law keeping. It is going nowhere unless first reformed into a new covenant paradigm.
4) Adventism Confused About Gospel
Here the author correctly admits that the SDA view of the Gospel mirrors the early debates over the law and the Gospel in the apostolic church. However, rather than taking a position on which side was correct, Peter and James or Paul, the SDA answer that both are correct is stunning and irrational. “Adventism has historically answered by saying, “both.” I like that.”
To embrace both views and blend them together is not the correct answer. Nor does it reflect what Protestants or Ellen White teaches about the infamous Galatian debate. The NT does not teach that both sides of the Galatian debate were correct and neither does the Reformation or Protestant theology. This idea that both views are correct is madness.
In fact, it is clear that one side was so very wrong that Paul cursed them to hell. Moreover, history is clear that Roman Catholic theology embraces the errors of Peter and James, while the Reformers embraced Paul’s viewpoint.
Uriah Smith sided with Peter and James and was very wrong to promote the wrong side of the Galatian debate. When confronted with his great error by EJ Waggoner and Ellen White, Smith stood for legalism and choose to let the Battle Creek Empire implode in schism, rather then repent and embrace the Gospel of Jesus and Paul. This great error destroyed Battle Creek Adventism and then did it again in Takoma Park. Unless this fatal doctrine is corrected, Adventism will die.
Gal. 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
Gal. 2:12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.
Gal. 2:13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
Gal. 2:14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
Gal. 2:15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;
Gal. 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
The debated positions about the Law and Gospel are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be correct, much less blended together. One view, that of James and Peter is Old Covenant and Roman Catholic, the other, Paul’s view, is Protestant and correctly represents the Gospel teachings of Christ.
Let everyone understand: Peter and James were wrong and Paul was correct. And so too, EJ Waggoner and Ellen White. But the SDA’s are like the Jews, they like Old Covenant law keeping, as did Peter and James. So they naturally side with their legalistic errors. Which means the SDA’s are not Protestant. This is their real problem. They are Judaizers, children of the Circumcision Party that troubled the early church. Unless they repent, they are doomed.
No Christian is under any Old Covenant law, not circumcision or keeping the 4th Commandment, tithing, or Jewish food laws. This is what the 1888 debates were all about, and so too Glacier View. Until the Adventists stop covering up their history and face up to their legalistic errors, they will never understand the law or the Gospel Sabbath correctly.
Unless the 1888 issues are made public, fully understood and resolved, the Adventists will never be able to move forward to develop the 4th Angels Message. They will continue to watch as the outdated and failing 3rd Angels Message self-destructs in irrelevance and chaos. Today, the SDA’s promote a false, legalistic Gospel with a fictional Judgment, for which they need to repent. This is their only hope.
5) No Present Truth
The term Present Truth was often used by the Battle Creek Pioneers and then again in Takoma Park. However, modern SDA’s today have long ago shunned the term because there have been so many doctrinal errors discovered since Glacier View in 1980 and then again in 1982, thanks to Walter Rea. Few believe that SDA’s have much truth anymore, and for good reason. They don’t. They have been not only been very wrong about doctrine and eschatology, but also about their history.
Present Truth in the 19th century is not PT in the 21st. In fact, there is no PT today for Adventists because they have fallen into great confusion and error. Present Error is all they have to show for themselves. Their views about most everything are wrong, including the Sabbath, which they do not fully understand. If they do not repent and embrace serious Gospel Reform within the context of the Three Angels Messages, they are doomed.
It is time for all Adventists to return to the serious search for truth. They can start by being honest about the history and theology of the 3rd Angels Message, as well as the fact that the 4th Angels Message completes the Three Angels Messages. Present Truth for modern SDA’s must be updated and corrected. They must admit that the 3rd Angels Message has failed and terminated, so that they can go forward to the next and last level of truth, which is the New Covenant based 4th Angels Message.
6) Anti-Gospel Hierarchy
Since when is a religious organization to be praised? Jesus condemned the Jewish religious system, even as Christ taught that his followers were to serve, not rule from the top down. Jesus freed people from their corrupt religious leaders, even as they killed him in a vain attempt to retain their power. The RCC also grew into a persecuting religious power, where false doctrine, censorship, and corruption ruled. The SDA’s have embraced the same anti-Gospel organizational model, complete with a large, corrupt, bureaucracy and a separate priesthood that they call pastors, funded by Old Covenant tithing. Cult like loyalty is what the leaders want, even as they use massive censorship to shut down discontent and manipulate the members.
Matt. 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
Matt. 20:26 “It is not this way among you, abut whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
Matt. 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;
The SDA’s are corrupt; they rule with a heavy hand, freely using propaganda, diversion, and censorship to govern. They have no free press, nor do they want such a democratic or Protestant concept. Any that disagrees with them, regardless if they are correct, are attacked and slandered, like Dr. Ford. The SDA system, which is tithe based and male dominated, is dysfunctional, outdated, and against the Gospel. It must be replaced with a Protestant style, organizational system.
7) Adventism Not Honest, Popular, or Positive
In spite of the many self-serving claims by Adventists that they are growing and making a positive difference in the world, they doing neither. Millions of once loyal SDA’s have left the church in anger and regret, even as the Internet is full of anti-SDA websites by former members. At least 50% of the 1 million on the NAD church books (Out of 400 million) no longer support the Denomination. Adventism in North America is dying for all to see. There is no use in denying what has been so obvious and clear since Glacier View in 1980.
Today, the Adventists have nothing worthwhile to offer society, aside perhaps from their vegetarian products, which few give them credit. While they were supposed to prepare the church for the great tribulation, they no longer preach the end of the world; much less understand their own eschatology. Millions have left the church; their schools are falling down and failing, and both the presses and the ABC books stores are shutting down, while their hospitals are no different from others. Their present course is not positive, much less sustainable. They are not making any impact on religion or society. Far more people mock, rather than support them.
The Advent Movement today is only viewed as great by those either delusional or on the church payroll. In real life, few have anything good to say about SDA’s, as millions have fled this dishonest and confused church, which has caused a lot of pain to its members.
Matt. 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Matt. 23:14 “ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
Matt. 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Conclusion
Today, Adventism is dishonest and dysfunctional, mismanaged by corrupt and incompetent leaders that do not embrace the Gospel nor understand the history of the Three Angels Messages. While the Denomination claims to be rich with truth, their theology is confused and heretical, full of double-talk, myth, and error. Propaganda and censorship are not New Covenant doctrines, and neither is a long list of false doctrines, starting with the IJ, tithe, and Jewish Food laws.
Those that defend the many anti-Gospel errors of the SDA’s, including the 4th Commandment, are self-condemned. Their love for Old Covenant traditions has made them blind to the Gospel, just like the Jews. Apparently they do not understand that their professed love for Judaism and the Law, err, I mean Adventism, will prevent them from gaining Eternal life.
The church must follow Christ, not Moses. What Jesus teaches about the Sabbath is NC doctrine for the church. Not what the SDA’s teach, which is very different and heretical from New Covenant doctrine.
Let everyone understand, to “love Adventism” is to love death. There is no salvation for being an SDA or obeying Old Covenant Law; only for believing the Gospel teachings of Christ.
To follow Jesus, is to love the Gospel and thus repudiate the many false SDA doctrines that are Old Covenant in nature. Christ demands repentance and Gospel reform from Adventists. Jesus is correct in the pre-Advent judgment of the last church; the SDA’s are blind, wretched, arrogant fools that had better repent before it is too late.
Mark 4:23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Tom Norris for Adventist Reform
Offline