We receive very many letters asking us what we think about Seventh Day Adventism. It requires so much time to answer these letters separately that we have decided to write this short message in the magazine.
Now note, we are dealing with “Seventh Day Adventism” and not with Seventh Day Adventists. There are many splendid people who are numbered with this sect and we are sure that some of them are saved, in spite of their ignorance of God’s saving message and spiritual program for this day in which we live.
I have replied to a number of inquirers that the curative, or antidote, for this teaching, is “the Pauline truth”, designated by him, “the dispensation of the grace of God” and “the dispensation of the mystery.” Ephesians 3:1 and 2 and 3:8 and 9. The Adventists are as ignorant of this message as though it were not recorded in God’s Holy Word. To my mind, much of the teaching of the Adventists is not only unscriptural, unsound and unspiritual; but it is positively absurd.
Perhaps the most pernicious teaching is their interpretation of Daniel 8:14 and Leviticus 16:9 to 27. If you will read Daniel 8:14 you will find reference to 2,300 days. They interpret this, as years, and they teach that the sanctuary was not cleansed until the nineteenth century A.D. And even then, our sins were not entirely put away. Their interpretation of the sacrifices of the goats, in the 16th of Leviticus, is that the Lord Jesus was the slain goat and Satan is to be the scapegoat. Satan is to be turned loose in darkness for one thousand years, and during that period of darkness there will be the punishment of lawbreakers.
In the light of such-clear statements as I Peter 3:18, John, 19:30, Hebrews 9:14 and Ephesians 2:8 to 13, I am sure that you will agree with me that such teaching can be included in that which the Scriptures call “the damnable heresy”. II Peter 2:1. The Adventists claim to be the children of Israel, and therefore govern themselves by the prophecies made to that nation. They claim that Israel’s sabbath is the Christian’s sabbath and should be observed by the members of the Body of Christ.
According to Exodus 31:13 to 17, the seventh-day sabbath was a sign between Jehovah and the children of Israel. The Adventists claim that only the ceremonial law was done away with at Calvary, and that the moral law is just as binding upon members of the Body of Christ in the dispensation of the grace of God as it was upon Israel during the dispensation of the Law. In the light of Colossians 2:11 to 14, II Corinthians 3:5 to 12, Acts 15:7 to 19 and Romans 10:3 to 7, we see the absolute nonsense of such teaching. We know that even one circumcised is debtor to the whole law. Galatians 5:3. We know there can be no reign of law without Levites to execute judgment upon even the law-breaker who kindles a fire on the Sabbath.
Likewise the one who is debtor to the sabbath is debtor to the whole Law. The Lord Jesus Christ abolished the Law, took out of the way the handwriting of ordinances, which was nailed to His cross. Colossians 2:12 to 14. He took the sabbath to the sepulchre and arose from the dead to be the head of a new creation. By putting away sin, bringing the Law to an end and abolishing death, the Lord Jesus Christ established “the Law of the Spirit of Life in Himself”. Romans 8:2. The language is very plain that Christians are not under the Law. Romans 6:14.
The Apostle Paul was the chosen vessel of the Lord to instruct members of the Body of Christ, and never once did. he say in any message that members of the Body of Christ had any obligation toward Israel’s sabbath. Not once did he give to any member of the Body of Christ the “thou shalt” and “thou shalt nots” of Sinai.
Galatians 3:24 and 25 is the refutation and negation of the legalistic teaching of the Adventists. We quote these two verses: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
We say that some Adventists are saved in spite of their perverted gospel. God’s Book tells us that the perverted gospel, that is, a mixture of law and grace, subverts the soul. Galatians 1:6 to 10 and Acts 15:10 to 19. If the Adventists were really under the Law, as they think they are, they would be under the curse; for there is not one of them, no matter how he may strive to keep the whole Law, who does not offend in one point; therefore he is guilty of all. They teach “soul-sleeping” in contradiction to the plain statements of God’s Book in II Corinthians 5:7 to 10, Philippians 1:10 to 18, Acts 7:47 to 52 and II Peter 1:17 to 21. They also teach annihilation as the punishment for the unsaved. We have mentioned only a few of their unscriptural doctrines, but we mention sufficient to warn Christians against their fallacies and fantasies. Beware of false prophets. “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1.
Read the allegory in Galatians 4:21 to 31. The Holy Spirit wrote this especially for Seventh Day Adventists.