The 7th Day Adventists Exposed
By Steven L. Anderson
Bible Text: Luke 16; Hebrews 4
I'm going to come back to Luke 16 at a later point in the sermon but what I want to preach about tonight is the false religion of the 7th Day Adventist and this is something that I’ve never really covered in the last 7 1⁄2 years that I’ve pastored and I believe that it is my job as a preacher to expose false teachers and false religion. You know, the Apostle Paul talked about false teachers of his day, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Philetus and he said, "For many walk , of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping , that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." So Paul is often warning of false teachers and false prophets. John did the same thing in the book of 1 John, in the book of 2, 3 John. He's constantly warning about false teachers and false doctrine and the 7th Day Adventists are a particularly dangerous group because on the surface they look a lot like Baptists. I mean, they look a lot like they have the same beliefs that we believe and what they want you to think is that the big difference is that they're meeting on Saturday and we're meeting on Sunday. Well, let me tell you something: there's a lot more difference than that and, in fact, in my sermon tonight, I’m not even going to talk about the fact that they're on the 7th day because do you know what? That's the least of their problems. Honestly, I don't even think that that's that big of a deal or even that important. I mean, the Bible says, "One man esteemeth one day above another. Another man esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Honestly, you can say until you're blue in the face, "Well, Saturday is the Sabbath day," the word "Sabbath day" is never even found in this book one time. You could just sit there and say, "Well, the week starts on Monday and Sunday is the seventh day of the week." How can you really prove it any differently? I've told that to 7th Day Adventists and they've said, "Well, every calendar in the world starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday." Well, I guess you've never been to Germany. I guess you've never been to Norway. I guess you've never been to Europe because in Europe calendars starts on Monday and end on Sunday. So all the Bible is saying is, "Six days shalt thou labor, the seventh is the Sabbath of rest unto thee." I don't think it's really that important. I don't think it's really a big deal. We're probably not on the same weeks as the creation week so who knows which?
But either way, I don't even want to talk about that. I'm not interested in that subject. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." You know, whenever I try to give the Gospel to people that are not saved that are 7th Day Adventists, they always just want to get on that topic. That's all they want to talk about is that Sabbath and Saturday. But let's just not talk about that tonight because I’m going to show you the false doctrines of the 7th Day Adventist church and this is not just something that they're being accused of, this is directly from their website. I mean, I went to adventist.org, the official 7th Day Adventist website and I looked at their fundamental doctrines and I’m going to prove to you how unbiblical and unscriptural they are and I’m going to use a lot of Bible tonight. But before I get into the Bible, I just want to give you the history of where this religion came from. I'm going to give you the history and then I’m going to go through the beliefs, not from some site that's making things up but from their own website, showing you their false doctrine and destroying it with the Bible.
It all goes back to the 1830s to a man named William Miller. This guy, William Miller in 1833, he started preaching that Jesus Christ was for sure going to come back in either 1843 or 1844. He said there was no doubt about it; the Bible proves it. He based it all on a Scripture in Daniel 8 that talks about the temple being cleansed after 2,300 days and he said, "Well, that actually is 2,300 years," and he did all this math and he said, "Jesus Christ will return in either 1843 or 1844." This guy became a really popular preacher. He started having all kinds of followers and they started putting out all kinds of literature promoting this doctrine that, "The end is near! Jesus is coming in 1843 or 1844!" In May of 1843, there were already 21,000 copies of the various Millerite papers being published each week. 21,000 of these newspapers are going out every week about how Jesus is coming in 1844. In New York alone in the five month period ending April, 1843, 600,000 copies of various publications were distributed. In December of 1843, a million tracts had gone out. In 1844, May, they announced that five million copies of these Millerite newspapers and publications had gone out. This was a pretty big movement. I mean, this is huge, right? Five millions documents are going out to all these people. There were like 44 different newspapers and magazines.
Well, you're not going to believe this but in 1844, Jesus didn't come back. He never showed up so then they kept pushing the date back. First it was going to be March and then it got pushed back to April. Then finally it's like they put everything into this date: October 22, 1844. This is like the final day; it's for sure going to happen. They ramped up the printing presses and they put out even more literature and then this has gone down in history as the Great Disappointment when October 22, 1844 rolled around and nothing happened. So when nothing happened, finally a lot of people just became disillusioned with Miller and decided, "Do you know what? This is a fraud." So they disbanded and he lost a lot of followers but a lot of people just couldn't let it go. They just are going to keep following this guy William Miller.
So they kind of broke into three groups. One of the groups said, "Well, on October 22, 1844, something did happen, just up in heaven. The door was shut," and they said, "no one can ever get saved after October 22, 1844." That was one group and Miller himself subscribed to that for a few weeks and then he's like, "No, that's weird." Then the second group just said, "Well, you know, we're still going to keep following Miller but we don't really know what's going on with that date. We're just kind of still waiting. Maybe we just calculated a little wrong." They stayed with Miller and whatever. But then a third group broke off and said, "You know what we believe is that basically when Daniel 8:13- 14 talked about after 2,300 days that the sanctuary would be cleansed, actually it's the sanctuary in heaven that would be cleansed." So here's what this third group taught: they taught that Jesus in 1844 on October 22nd, he went into the Holy of Holies in heaven and started cleansing it and he's still cleansing it. I mean, that's the scariest cleaning project. Not only that, not only has he been up there but they said that he started doing this investigative judgment so the judgment of the saved began in 1844. Look, all it is, folks, is that it was fraudulent date that was made up, that was not biblical. Nothing happened. Somebody just made it up. Well, okay, Jesus in heaven went into the Holy of Holies and started judging Christians and he's still doing it to this day and as soon as he's done, I guess that's when they think the Second Coming of Christ is going to happen but it's been a long time now that he's been doing this. Look, there is no basis in Scripture for that. Where does the Bible teach that after 1,800+ years of Jesus Christ having risen from the dead, all of a sudden he goes into the Holy of Holies and starts cleansing it? Why did it even need to be cleansed? What are you talking about? The Bible is clear in the book of Hebrews that Christ has already entered into the holy place; he's already sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat. He already did all that. He didn't start doing it in 1844 just because your false prediction of Christ's return didn't happen.
That third group became the 7th Day Adventists. Before that, they were just known as the Adventists. All of the Miller followers were kind of known as the Adventists and "advent" means "coming." Christ's second advent means his Second Coming. The reason they're called Adventists is because they said he was coming back in 1844. So even their name just revealed the fraud that they have subscribed to because to this day they're called Adventists and now they'll say, "Oh, we just believe Jesus is coming back." No, you were originally called that because you said he was coming back in 1844. That's why you were called an Adventist. We all think Jesus is coming back, my friend. You were called an Adventist because you said he was coming back in 1844 and it never materialized so you just made up a doctrine just completely unscripturally, "Oh, he started this new ministry of investigative judgment starting in 1844," because of the Great Disappointment.
Now, out of that third group, there was a person who became a very preeminent person in that third group, one of the top leaders, and that person was a woman named Ellen G. White. Her and her husband, James White, and a few other people were some of the key leaders in this early Adventist movement that came out of this Great Disappointment fraud that they continued believing in even though it never materialized. From 1844 to 1863, Ellen G. White experienced between 100-200 visions. So this woman, right after this fraud, she started having all these visions, 100-200 of them, typically in public places and meeting halls; sometimes they occurred at her house at night. Here's how someone described her visions. This guy was in her presence 50 times while she had these visions. His name was J. N. Lobero and this guy was with her and so here's how he described these visions. First of all, "In passing into visions, she gives three enrapturing shouts of, 'Glory! Glory! Glory,' but the third is fainter and more thrilling than the first and her voice resembled one quite at a distance from you just going out of hearing." 2. "For a few seconds, she would swoon having no strength. Then she would be instantly filled with super-human strength sometimes rising to her feet and walking about the room. She frequently moved hands, arms and head in gestures that were free and graceful but to whatever position she moved her hand or arm, it could not be hindered nor controlled by even the strongest person.
In 1844, she held her parent's 18.5 pound family Bible," that's a big Bible. "She held out this 18.5 pound family Bible in her outstretched left hand for half an hour and she only weighed 80 pounds." She just held it out there so this is like her super-human strength. 3. Listen to this: "She did not breath during the entire period of a vision that ranged from 15 minutes to three hours." So she wouldn't breathe for three hours, "yet her pulse beat regularly and her countenance remained pleasant as in the natural state," but she's not breathing for up to three hours at a time. I think I read this in the Bible, right, when the prophets had visions how they would stop breathing for three hours, hold books out. 4. "Her eyes were always open without blinking." No breathing. Think about this. I can't really demonstrate it. "Her head was raised looking upward with a pleasant expression as if staring intently at some distant object. Several physicians at different times conducted tests to check her lack of breathing and other physical phenomena. She was utterly unconscious of everything transpiring around her and viewed herself as removed from this world and in the presence of heavenly beings. When she came out of a vision, all seemed total darkness whether in the daytime or in a well lighted room at night. She would exclaim with a long drawn out sigh as she took her first natural breath, "D-A-R-K," and then she would be limp and lifeless," after spelling the word "dark" really loud and then falling over. By the way, Mrs. Martha A. added, "There was never an excitement among those present during a vision. Nothing caused fear. It was a solemn, quiet scene."
So all the spectators were very quiet and respectful during this whole process. So during her lifetime, Ellen White wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles, 40 books and reported over 2,000 visual or oral paranormal experiences most of which she was convinced were communications with supernatural entities, angels, Jesus. She wrote over 50,000 pages. 50,000 pages this woman authored and the 7th Day Adventists believe that this woman was a prophetess of God and was inspired by God and that what she said and what she wrote was inspired by God on par with the Bible. I'll prove that to you. Now, you've got to be careful because the 7th Day Adventist will try to downplay it. They'll say, "Oh well, you know, yeah, we believe in the teachings of Ellen G. White but the Bible is our final authority. Anything that Ellen White says has to line up with the Bible." On the surface that sounds, "Oh okay, it's just the teacher that they like," but wait a minute, it goes deeper than that. Let me explain it to you. First of all, this is directly from their website. If you go to their website under "Fundamental Belief #18" it says, "One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and was manifested in the ministry of Ellen. G. White. As the Lord’s messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth." Did you hear that? Her writings are authoritative source of truth, "which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested." That's the whole thing of Number 18 of their Fundamental Beliefs.
Think about this now: obviously we believe that the New Testament is the word of God, right? It's inspired by God. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." We believe that the New Testament is the word of God inspired by God but wouldn't you say this that the New Testament has to agree with the Old Testament? And that if the New Testament contradicted the Old Testament we'd say there was something wrong? Something's a fraud? Okay, that's all they're saying about Ellen G. White. They're just saying, "Well, what she said has to line up with the Bible." Just as we would say the New Testament has to line up with the Old Testament or the book of Jeremiah needs to line up with the book of Isaiah because if there's a contradiction, it's not God's word. But look: they are saying that her writings are divinely inspired and that they are authoritative and that they are the word of God. The visions that she had are the word of God according to 7th Day Adventists. So they'll try to kind of spin that and say, "Well, yeah, we believe in her writings but only so long as they line up with the Bible," except, guess what? They believe all of them line up with the Bible because they believe that they came through visions directly from God where angels are speaking to her and Jesus himself is speaking to her, therefore, they put these writings – it says it right on their website – that they are authoritative sources of truth.
So their authority is not only the Bible, it is also the teachings of Ellen G. White. Now look: just on the surface from what I read to you, doesn't it sound like kind of a hokey source to believe in from just what I read to you? Just on the surface? But not only that, if we look at her doctrines and her teachings, they contradict clear Scripture and I’m going to get into four major contradictions with Scripture in the teachings of the 7th Day Adventist and the teachings of Ellen G. White that prove that she was not receiving these revelations from God because they are major contradictions of the word of God. Before I get into that, I just want to cover the issue that this religion is basically looking to a woman as their leader, as their founding figure, as their authority, as this messenger from God. They believe that in the end times, God sent a woman to give all these volumes. Look: how many pages? Thousands of pages that all of these thousands of pages of basically Scripture that they consider authoritative came through a woman preacher; a female preacher who preached and stood in church and taught the word of God and wrote all these writings.
Here's the thing: a lot of people will point to the fact that, "Well, in the Bible there are some women who are called a prophetess so, therefore, there is no big deal about Ellen G. White being a prophetess in the modern era." Here's what you have to understand: there are two things that are contained in the Bible: stories and statements. Has everybody got that? The Bible contains a lot of stories and the Bible contains a lot of statements. Now look: what do you think we should look to first as our clearest instruction from God, a story or a statement? Statement. For example, we've got a lot of stories about people marrying multiple wives but we have a clear statement saying that a man and woman that they two shall be one flesh and we have a clear statement saying not to multiply wives. So just because we see a story of multiple wives and that's what people who condone polygamy, that's how they justify it. "Abraham did it," is what they say, even though that's debatable whether he had multiple wives. "David did it. Solomon did it." But that doesn't make it right. So just because there were female prophetesses in the Bible, that does not mean that that was God's perfect will being carried out. That doesn't mean that God wanted it to be so.
Now, let's get a clear statement from the New Testament on whether this Ellen G. White was legitimate to be basically their authority, preaching and teaching God's word, being their main teacher. I mean, she is their main preacher and teacher. If I associate a name with the 7th Day Adventists you're not going to say William Miller. You're going to say Ellen G. White. That's the name that is associated. Look: on their whole website, in their whole statement of faith, that's the only person that's brought up by name that they look to as a prophet. Ellen G. White is the only prophet mentioned under Section 18, "The Spirit of Prophecy." Go to 1 Corinthians 14 and let's get a clear statement from the New Testament on whether this woman was legitimate as a preacher. Was she sent from God to straighten out the churches? Was she sent from God to bring in new doctrine and to basically restore, according to them, Christians as a remnant to the doctrines of God? Is this how God works? Let me ask you this: is any part of this book written by a woman? Was Genesis written by a woman? Was Exodus? Okay, let's not go through the whole list but you get the idea. They weren't written by women. I'm not down on women. I'm not against women. I think women can be greatly used by God but I do not think that God uses women to found churches and found religions and to pen Scripture. I don't believe in it. I don't believe that God desires women to be leaders of the New Testament church. I don't believe it. The Bible says clearly in 1 Corinthians 14:34, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing," let them have visions where they don't breathe for 15 minutes and they'll learn something. No, it says, "And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."
So right here we see a clear statement from God and this is never contradicted. Never did God say, "I want women to preach in the church." Of course God command women to give the Gospel to the lost out in the highways and hedges, out amongst the unsaved to open the Bible and give the Gospel to the lost. Every man, woman, boy and girl can do that but in the church, who teaches? Men. In the church, who leads? Men. The Bible says that they are to keep silence, to be under obedience and ask their husbands at home because it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Why are the 7th Day Adventists not ashamed of a woman speaking in the church? It's a good question. She being dead yet speaketh.
Look at 1 Timothy 2. The Bible is real clear on this subject. 1 Timothy 2:11, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection." Let me read it again. This is Bible. This is not Pastor Anderson being a jerk, this is Pastor Anderson reading the Bible. "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." It's really clear and if we look at every mention in the Bible of a prophetess which I did in preparing this sermon, you've got Miriam, the prophetess. Now look: where did Miriam lead a great movement? Where did Miriam teach new doctrine? Where did Miriam stand up in a New Testament church and preach? Where did she lead the Old Testament church in the wilderness anywhere or teach them anything? The only time we see her prophesying is when she basically just sings a song in Exodus 15. She sings a song about the fact that they were delivered from the Egyptians in the Red Sea. She just praises God. That's her prophesying, it's just praising God. Later she challenges Moses' authority and is struck by God with leprosy. Not one that was a leader ordained by God. God ordained Moses to lead, not Miriam.
Then we see in Judges 4, Deborah the prophetess. Again, not a leader of men. Not a great public figure. The Bible says that she judged Israel but here's the thing: when it came time to do the office of a judge and to deliver the people, she called Barak and I’m not going to call him Barack, I don't care what anybody says, but she called Barak and she told Barak, "You're supposed to do it." She told him to lead, him to take the public leadership and he was basically timid and cowardly to do it so Barak said, "I'm not going to go unless you go with me." So then Deborah told him, "Well, I’ll go with you but because of your," and I’m paraphrasing, "but because of your faint heartedness here, you're not going to get the glory for the victory. The victory is going to go to a woman." Now look: was that woman Deborah? No, that woman was Jael because what happened is Sisera, the leader of the enemy host in the midst of the battle, he escaped. He fled on foot. He ran away and Sisera, he came to the tent of Jael. Her husband was an ally of Sisera but she didn't like him. So he came in and he asked for water and she gave him milk. She brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She treated him nice, fed him and put him in bed and patted him and kissed him on the cheek. Then when he fells asleep, she came back with a tent spike and a hammer in her hand and Jael hammered that spike through his head and killed him. So basically it goes down in history that he was defeated by a woman.
Can you see here how it was God's will? In fact, God is using Deborah the prophetess – listen to me now – to rebuke Barak because God's will was that a man would go and lead and fight to victory and basically when that man failed to do so, basically his punishment was that he's not going to get the victory and his punishment was that our horrible President would be named after him. I mean, think about it: I think if Barak would have had the guts to do what he was supposed to do, he probably wouldn't have an idiot like Obama named after him but because of his cowardice and his weakness and his lameness, he had to be named after this President, this joke. So here's the thing: and he lost the victory because, you know, Jael got the glory of killing the enemy. He didn't do it. Barak is not a cool guy. That's why no one names their kid Barak except crack-whores or whatever. That's the only person who names their kid Barak that I’ve ever known. So here's the thing: they name their kid after some of the other judges; they might name their kid Peter, James and John but they're not going to name their kid Barak or Barack.
What I'm saying is that that wasn't God's perfect will. That was the children of Israel in disobedience and Isaiah 3:21 teaches that when God's people are in disobedience, part of that judgment is that women and children will rule over them. That's not God's perfect will though. Again, don't go with the story, go with the statement. The statement said that men should lead. Have women led throughout history? Yes, but was that God's perfect plan? Is that what God had in mind? No, as the result of failure of man. The failure of men to lead. By the way, who do we blame for women taking over in America? The men. Men are stronger than women, therefore, if women are ruling over us today in America whether it's in your own house or your own bedroom or whether it's in the White House or whether it's in Congress, it's because you failed. We failed because it's men that are to blame. If you blame women, you're a weakling. It's men's fault. We allowed it to happen. Period. When men become sissy and emasculated and effeminate, women take over. It happened in the Bible and it's happening today. Does that make it God's will? No. And does that mean that in the New Testament God is going to send some female prophet to straighten us all out and write 500,000 pages that we're supposed to accept as God's word or up there with God's word or authoritative source of truth? No. It's not biblical. I don't believe in it. I've got to hurry up. I'm running out of time. I'm still on the first point.
There are other mentions of prophetesses, Huldah the prophetess. This was a time when they couldn't even find a Bible in the children of Israel. They are searching and they can't find a Bible anywhere. Finally they're like waiting to inquire of God. All they can find is a prophetess that's living in some college and they go to her, Huldah the prophetess. Then we see a prophetess, Noadiah, in the book of Nehemiah. This was a wicked prophetess that was preaching lies and false doctrine. Her name was Noadiah. Then we see that, of course, King Lemuel receives prophecy from his mother which is basically just giving him advice on not drinking and not being around the wrong kind of women. Then we see in the New Testament, Luke 2, Anna the prophetess. Again, not a leader of men. Again, not preaching to great crowds. Just a woman who just prays in the temple and says some things about baby Jesus. Then we have, of course, Jezebel, the prophetess in Revelation 2, another false prophetess. Look, I don't see anything in any of those stories that contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture or the fact that some of the early deacons, their daughter was called a prophetess. I don't see anything that contradicts when the Bible says, "Let women keep silence in the churches. I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence."
Let's go into some of the key false doctrines of Ellen G. White. Let's just go through the four biggest ones just to prove that this was not of God. 1. She taught the indivisibility of the body, mind and spirit. Here's from their official Fundamental Beliefs. You say, "Well, why is that important?" Well, you're going to see why it's very important. Listen to this under Fundamental Belief #7 from their own website, "Nature of Man," it says, "Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality." First of all, that's already false because the Bible teaches that man was made in the image of God, that woman was not made in the image of God because if you study 1 Corinthians 11, it says that men should have short hair because they're made in the image of God. Then in the Genesis account, it says that God "created man in his own image, in the image of God made he him, male and female created he them." Anyway that's not a big deal but it's just something that's not right. "Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality." You say, "Why is that important?" Because God is a man so if man is made to look like God or man is made in the image of God, if you say that woman is made in the image of God it's like you're saying that God is both man and woman and he's not. God looks like a man. He doesn't look like a woman. He's Jesus, the man, Christ Jesus. Anyway it says this, "Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality, the power and freedom to think and to do. Though created free beings" – listen to this – "is an indivisible unity of body, mind, and spirit." So they're saying that the body, mind and spirit cannot be divided. Now, the reason that this doctrine is so important is because this leads to two other of their major false doctrines: soul sleep and annihilation. This is where it all goes back to, this indivisibility of the body, soul and spirit. Now let me ask you this: is it biblical to say that the body and the spirit cannot be separated or that the body and the soul cannot be separated? Well, James 2:26 says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." That right there defines death as being the body without the spirit. You see, when the spirit leaves the body, the body is dead. They're saying, "Well, the body and the spirit can't be separated." That's what Ellen G. White taught.
Now, how many times in the Bible, I don't have time to read all these, but when the Bible wants to tell us that somebody died, do you know how it says that they died? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 times in the Bible? If it wants to say So-and-so died, do you know what it says 12 times? "He gave up the ghost." Do you know what "ghost" means? Spirit. He gave up the ghost. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." That's why when it says, "Then Abraham gave up the ghost," the spirit left his body. He gave up the ghost. It says in Acts 2:31, "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." Look: was Jesus' body in hell? No, but the Bible says his soul was in hell. His body was where? In the tomb.
Now, in the story that we read in Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus, remember how the rich man went to hell? Remember how Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom? Let me ask you this: was their body carried there? No, because when somebody dies, their body is still here, we bury it. It doesn't go anywhere, does it? I mean, when somebody dies, do they just magically disappear like a sci-fi movie, they just kind of fade away? No, when somebody dies, their body remains and what the 7th Day Adventist teaches is that, "Well, the body and the spirit cannot be separated." Can you show me that in the Bible? No you can't. I can show you 12 times where somebody gave up the ghost. I can show you where Jesus gave up the ghost. I can show you where Abraham gave up the ghost. I can show you where the body without the spirit is dead and that's exactly consistent with giving up the ghost. I can show you where Jesus' soul was in hell but his body was in the tomb.
So this indivisibility of the body, mind and spirit is a false doctrine. It leads to two other false doctrines: the first is soul sleep. Go to Philippians 1. Now look: they teach that her writings are authoritative sources of truth, why are they teaching things that are contrary to the word of God? Why are they being brought by a female preacher when that's not how God ever worked in the Bible in the past? To bring major revelations. To lead new movements. To start churches. It didn't happen. Why is it contradicting the Bible on the divisibility of the body, mind and spirit? Why is she teaching soul sleep? Soul sleep is a doctrine that says that when you die you're just completely unconscious. You know your body is just laying there, right? You go to a funeral and the body is just laying there? The soul sleep doctrine basically teaches that your spirit and soul are right there with it just laying there, just unconscious, just gone. Let's see if that is consistent with what the Bible teaches in Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Now look: living here is being compared to abiding in the flesh, right? Look at these Scriptures, 21-24. If you're alive, you're abiding in the flesh. You're living in the flesh, right? If you depart, that's death. He said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." For the believer, death is a departure. It's a departing to be with Christ. Let me ask you this: is the body departing? No, but the soul departs to be with Christ. He didn't say, "I have a desire to lay in the earth. I want to lay in the earth sooner because I’m just sick and tired of living. I just want to lay there already. Now, you need me here to abide in the flesh with you but I just want to lay in the earth already." No, he said, "I have a desire to depart to be with Christ," because departing is departing what? Departing the flesh, giving up the ghost. Departing to be with Christ is far better than living on this earth. That's why to die for the believer is gain because we'd rather depart the body, depart the flesh, be with Christ but he says, "I need to abide in the flesh to help you." Look: this is not what Ellen G. White taught. It's not consistent with Scripture.
Here's another Scripture that defeats souls sleep and there are many, I'm just showing you a few. 2 Corinthians 5:6, "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." Is that saying, "Man, we're never going to be separated from this body?" No, "whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." How can we be absent from the body if their fundamental belief #7 said they can't be divided? How are you absent from the body and present with the Lord? It doesn't make any sense because it's not biblical. He says, "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."
Go to Luke 16. Luke 16 is another place where we see people departing their bodies. We see a rich man die and he departs the body and he goes to hell. We see Lazarus die and he departs the body and he goes to be with the Lord in heaven and he is leaning upon Abraham's bosom. Abraham's bosom is a body part, not a place. A bosom is a body part. Look it up. Every time it's used in the Bible it is not a place, it is a body part. Okay, John leaned on Jesus' bosom at the Last Supper. All throughout the Bible, I don't have time to go into that.
Anyway, the 7th Day Adventists teach a false doctrine known as annihilation. I think this is probably one of the most serious of their false doctrines. It's a very serious doctrine because what they teach with this doctrine of annihilation is they teach that hell doesn't last forever. In fact, they don't even believe that the unsaved even go to hell when they die. They believe that they just sleep because there is no separation of the body but that at the second resurrection, they believe that that's when people will be cast into the lake of fire, cast into hell and that they will just burn up. They just burn up and it's over.
Now where they get this doctrine is not through Scripture but rather through logic. They use logic saying, "Well, if you're in hell and you're consciously existing for hundreds of years, that means you're alive," according to them. According to them, if you're in hell existing consciously, that's eternal life. "That's the immortality of the soul." By the way, is this sounding familiar with the Jehovah's Witnesses? That's because the Jehovah's Witnesses pretty much just took everything that the 7th Day Adventists taught and just took it further. You see, honestly, the Jehovah's Witnesses are just the 7th Day Adventist times two. The 7th Day Adventists are like half-way between a Baptist and a Jehovah's Witness. That's why it's a little bit harder. If you look at a Jehovah's Witness and you're like, "Whoa, their doctrine is really bad." The 7th Day Adventist, it's a little easier for them to creep in and kind of, "Yeah, I’m just like you. We're like you. We believe in the same stuff as you. It's just that whole seventh day thing." No, it's more than that. It's that woman who didn't breathe for three hours that we have a problem with. Hey look, if you want to put your feet up all day Saturday and take it easy, more power to you. If that woman who didn't breathe, that 80 pound woman who didn't breathe for three hours and that held a gigantic Bible out like a body builder for 30 minutes straight and taught that you can't separate the soul from the body and hell is not eternal and soul sleep and all of this unbiblical junk. That's what we have a problem with.
In this story and we already read the whole chapter at the beginning of the sermon but we see this guy and I’ll just quickly touch on it but he basically says in verse 23, "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." Look at this back in Jesus' day. There is already somebody in hell. He's already burning in hell. Look, this isn't something that you just get thrown in and you burn up and it's over. This guy is begging for a drop of water. He's tormented. Ongoing in the flame.
Go to Revelation 14. The 7th Day Adventist will say, "Well, that's a parable." Here's the thing: parables are used to teach some truth. What truth is that teaching us? What does that represent? If you have a parable, it represents something. Okay, the sower, he sows the word. The seed represent the word of God. The different types of ground are different people who hear the word of God. Okay, what does a guy on fire begging for a drop of water represent? Saying, "Go back and tell my brothers." No, Jesus is just time warping. He's talking about stuff. No, he's telling him to go back and talk to my brethren that are still alive on the earth right now so that they'll get saved. Look, there is no way around it. This guy is in hell. He's got brethren on this earth that he wants saved. He's trying to send Lazarus. First of all, no parable ever uses a name. Parables are always just like "a certain man." Here he says, "A man named Lazarus." He's a real guy. But look: if it's a parable, what does it represent? Ongoing pain and suffering. On fire. Burning. What does that represent? Laying in the dirt asleep? I mean, when I’m asleep, I’m not begging. I'm not one of these people that gets up and gets a drink of water every five minutes all night. You know how people do that. I don't do that. If you think that's what this parable represents, you're crazy.
Look at Revelation 14:10, "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Oh, you say it's symbolic. Of what? You appear to be tormented day and night. They have no rest. It goes on forever. What does that represent? Just being gone? It's not a very good representation if it represents annihilation. I'm not seeing it, my friend. Let's just take it for what it says. People are going to burn in hell forever and they will be tormented forever, they're going to suffer forever. Look: Jesus taught this. He said, "If thy hand offend thee cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched." You say, "Well, you know, the fire is never going to be quenched but they burn up." "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." You know, that's the worm that shall feed sweetly on them. "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." Matthew 18:8, you don't have to turn there, "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." Matthew 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." How do you get, "It's just the fire that's everlasting but the people burn up"? Okay, then why did he say in verse 46, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal"? Look: what does everlasting punishment mean? It's a punishment that lasts forever. That's what it says. That's what the Bible says.
Go to Revelation 20 and let's examine this faulty logic that the 7th Day Adventists use, not a Bible verse but rather just logic to say, "Well, if they're in hell burning, that means they're alive. If they're conscious, that means they're alive. If they're burning they're alive and therefore that would be eternal life and we know that only the saved," because Ellen G. White claims that she got this doctrine from John 3:16. That's where she said she got it. Ellen G. White says, "Well, I got the doctrine of annihilation from John 3:16 because it says 'shall not perish but have everlasting life' and if the people are burning in hell, that's not perishing. They're still alive if they're burning in hell." But let's see if the Bible agrees that a person who is burning in hell is still alive because that's what she's saying. That's her logic. Look: what does "perish" mean? "Perish" means "die." Don't get some complicated definition of "perish." When the Bible says "perish" it means "die." So you're not going to die but you're going to have everlasting life. She says, "Oh, but if you're burning in hell, if you're conscious, if you're speaking, if you're feeling the pain, you're alive." Let's see what the Bible teaches. Revelation 20:12, "And I saw the," what? "The dead, small and great, stand before God." "Well, if you're standing before God, you're not dead. You're alive if you stand before God being judged." No, the Bible says you're dead. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." You say, "Well, they came back to life." No, listen: "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." When the people are in hell, they're called "the dead" and when they're brought out of hell, they're still dead and when they stand before God, they're the dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. They're not alive. "Well, I think that if they're talking..." I don't care what you think. You don't even know what death is. Death is when the spirit has departed the body. That's physical death. Physical death is when the spirit departs the body. That's the death of the body. The body dies when the spirit leaves the body. Do you know how the soul and the spirit dies? By going to hell because when it goes there, it's considered dead. It doesn't mean they're not conscious. It doesn't mean they're not begging for a drop of water. You say, "I don't get it." Well, it doesn't matter whether you get it. Some people don't get things just because they're not saved and "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto him and neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned." Look: the body, the soul and the spirit and the concept of eternal damnation, eternal death, eternal punishment, eternal suffering in hell, whether you understand it or not, it's a doctrine of the Bible. We've just seen several Scriptures that very clearly laid it out.
Look at Revelation 20:10, while you're in chapter 20. It says, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are." They were cast in a thousand years earlier. It says that they are still there. These guys have been in hell for a thousand years and listen to this: "and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Now look: isn't the beast the man of sin? Isn't he a human being? Okay, what about the false prophet? Is he a human being? Yup, and where have they been for a thousand years? The lake of fire. It says "they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." There is no annihilation in this verse. Not only that but the devil is going to be tormented for ever and ever. Do you know what? The 7th Day Adventists believe that the devil will also be annihilated and cease to exist. They don't even believe that he's getting punished forever. They don't even believe the antichrist is getting punished forever. They think everybody is just toast, annihilated.
Just to give you a quick review of just really bad doctrine. The indivisibility of the body, soul and spirit. No way to reconcile it with Scripture. Foreign to Scripture. Soul sleep. Foreign to Scripture. Annihilation. Not biblical. But lastly, this extrabiblical doctrine that just has no basis in the Bible like this investigative judgment starting in 1844. It's just a cover-up for a fraudulent date setting. I mean, Harold Camping said some dates that didn't happen. Look, people do this because it gets people all excited and they sell everything and they donate and they put out five million papers. If William Miller hadn't of said, "Jesus is coming back in 1844," we wouldn't even known his name. He wouldn't have had five million pamphlets go out. These guys are just frauds that just do it for filthy lucre's sake or just fame, glory, I don't know. I don't know why they do it.
Here are just some weird stuff too. Just some other weird quotes by Ellen G. White. By the way, here are some quotes about what she said about hell. "How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy and even to our sense of justice. It is a doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live." Ah, it's so repugnant to my sense of justice. I don't care what your sense of justice is. God is the Judge. Not you, Ellen G. White.
This is one of her visions, "But I saw that God would not shut them up in hell to endure endless misery. Neither will he take them to heaven for to bring them into the company of the pure and holy would make them exceedingly miserable." He doesn't take them to heaven because he doesn't want them to be miserable but he's not going to send them to hell either. "But he will destroy them utterly and cause them to be as if they had not been. Then his justice will be satisfied. He formed man out of the dust of the earth and the disobedient and unholy will be consumed by fire and returned to dust again." That's not biblical doctrine. This is not what the Scripture teaches. Ellen G. White is, therefore, a false prophet.
Just some other weird things that they teach is that they teach that Jesus is Michael the archangel, sort of like the Jehovah's Witnesses because a real big part of 7th Day Adventist belief is what is called the Great Controversy that all of human history and all of the creation is this battle between Jesus and the good angels and Satan and the bad angels. But in the Bible, it's Michael and his angels that fought against the dragon so they fixed that by just saying that Michael and Jesus are the same thing. No, Jesus is not Michael the archangel. That's not biblical doctrine.
Here's a really weird quote. Let me just close on this really weird quote from Ellen G. White. Listen to this, it's about the people before the flood, "But if there was one stand above another which called for the destruction of the race by the flood it was the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast which defaced the image of God and caused confusion everywhere. Every species of animal which God had created were preserved in the ark. The confused species which God did not create, which were the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the flood. Since the flood, there has been amalgamation of man and beast as may be seen in the almost endless variety of species of animals and in certain races of men." What? What are you talking about? First of all, an amalgamation is a word that is not about people or animals, it's about mixing metals together. You know, who has ever heard of teeth fillings that are called amalgam? It's when you mix metals so she's using a word that is not the right word and this is an authoritative source of truth, my friend. "The problem before the flood was the amalgamation of man with animals and they created all these weird species of animals that God did not allow onto the ark. But then after the flood, there has been more amalgamation as can be clearly seen in all the species of animals." You can clearly see that there are a lot of species of animals that God just didn't make, right? Right? We can all see that, right? What? No.
Well, what about those certain races of men? You're kind of like, "Is there an animal mixed in there? What in the world are you talking about?" When you bring this up to 7th Day Adventists, they'll just say, "Oh, she wasn't a racist because she was against slavery and she loved black people." But wait a minute, she's still writing this weird stuff. I'm not saying she's a racist, I’m saying she's a lunatic. I'm not saying she's racist, I’m saying she doesn't know what amalgam means or what amalgamized means or what an amalgamation is or what in the world is she talking about animals being amalgamated with humans before and after the flood? Look, I thought the big sin was violence. That's what the Bible said. The Bible says in Genesis 6, he said, "I'm going to destroy the earth because the whole earth is filled with violence." He says it's violent. That's what the Bible says. It doesn't say, "I'm so tired of these weird species of animals." What in the world? A duck billed platypus? Are you serious? What in the world? So God is up in heaven, "You think I created a duck billed platypus? An anteater? Are you serious?" What else did God not make? What in the world?
If this is who you want to follow, if you say, "Pastor Anderson, you're wrong. Ellen G. White had the spirit of prophesy. October 22, 1844 was legit. Jesus is cleaning up that sanctuary right now. He's doing an investigative judgment on your life. Indivisibility of the body, soul and spirit. Soul sleep. No hell that's eternal anyway. Mixing of animals and people as can be seen in some races." Come on, it's the elephant in the room, folks. We all see that animals like chihuahuas, what's going on? God didn't create that. If you want to follow this woman, this prophetess, then do you know what? You need to go and join the 7th Day Adventist church because they are following this woman and her teachings and her writings and they consider them an authoritative source of truth.
Now let me ask you this: do you believe that 7th Day Adventists are pretty much like Baptists at the end of the day? I didn't even get into the fact that every single Scripture that I found on their website was from the NIV. That's a bad sign. I went to their page on what Adventists believe and it's all NIV Scriptures. I went to their official statements of the church on social issues. I could go on and on. I have all kinds of information here about the 7th Day Adventists but I think you get the idea, friends. But a lot of people will say, "But wait a minute, Pastor Anderson, are the 7th Day Adventists saved? Are any of them saved?" Because when you talk to them, you'll say salvation by faith and they're like amen. You say that you can't lose your salvation and a lot of times they're like yup, you can't lose it. But then it's almost like they talk out of both sides of their mouths because on parts of their website they're saying it's by faith and you can't lost it but then on other parts although they never really came out and said you couldn't lose it, but they just made it sound that way, but when you look at other parts of their website it's like Jesus in 1844, he's seeing who is keeping the commandments. He's seeing who is keeping the Sabbath. He's going to decide who is really saved and who is really going to make it into that kingdom of God. So it's kind of like on one end they're saying it's by faith but, by the way, every time they say it's by faith, they always say it's evidenced by the works. You have to have the works or it proves that you don't have the faith. So they kind of water it down. On the other hand, it's like Jesus is up in heaven investigating us on whether we're keeping the Sabbath.
The other things that they often in their publications talk about is they say that worshiping on Sunday is the mark of the beast so if it's believing in Christ that is going to save you but then it's like if you're worshiping on Sunday you're receiving the mark of the beast. It's like salvation by grace through faith or not? But you say, "Pastor Anderson, isn't a 7th Day Adventist saved?" Well, let me put it to you this way: if you confront a 7th Day Adventist with these Scriptures or with this sermon that's giving these Scriptures and if you open your Bible and show them the clear Scripture about the spirit departing the body multiple times, show them the clear Scripture about Paul departing to be with Christ and they look at that and say, "I'm still going to go with my 7th Day Adventist belief," that person is not saved because that shows you where their faith and trust is. Look, if your faith and trust is the Bible, when somebody shows you something crystal clear in the Bible, you're going to believe it because "he that is of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God." So you can just sit there and show them these clear Scriptures and they walk away saying, "Nope, I still believe in annihilation. I still believe in soul sleep. I still believe in the indivisibility of the body, soul and spirit." All that comes down to is that the Bible isn't what they're trusting. Ellen G. White is who they are trusting.
The 7th Day Adventist religion is who they are trusting. They do not have the Spirit of God leading them into all truth. They don't hear God's word. They're listening to the voice of strangers. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice. A stranger will they flee from for they know not the voice of strangers." Listen to me: Ellen G. White is a stranger. She did not bring the message of the Shepherd. She brought a false message, a false doctrine that on the surface...look, everybody claims they believe it's by faith on the surface. When the rubber meets the road with these people, it's like, "Are you keeping the Sabbath or what?" That's where the rubber really meets the road with these people since 1844. That's what Jesus is looking at and he's looking at your works; he's looking at that pork sandwich that you ate; he's looking at your clam chowder and he's not impressed. Also, she promoted being a total vegetarian. I thought they just abstained from pork. She promoted being a total vegetarian which, again, I’m not against you if you're a vegetarian. That's fine if you want to be a vegetarian but do you know what? The Bible does not teach you to be a vegetarian. The Bible teaches you to also eat meat. That's why you have fangs in your mouth. Anyway, the Bible clearly commands people to eat meat in certain places. So what I’m saying is that all this dietary stuff that she had, a lot of the stuff she said was good for your health like, "Sunshine and fresh air and exercise and clean water." Oh wow, you're a genius. You must have had a revelation from God. Wow, you must be getting visions from the Almighty if you figured out that sunshine and clean water and fresh air are good for you. Oh, you figured out that alcohol and drugs are bad for you? Okay, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Obviously I believe in being healthy too. Okay, so what? But do you know what is more important than bodily exercise? Being exercised unto godliness and following the Scripture.
So the 7th Day Adventist religion is a false religion. When you talk to them here's my advice to you. This is just my personal opinion. That was all biblical doctrine and here's my personal opinion: when you talk to them, get off the 7th day thing. I don't care. Look, go to church on Thursday, who cares. I mean, that's not their biggest problem, folks, and that's what they're going to try to talk about. I always try to get right off that and I always get right on the subject of heaven and hell. That's where I go. I go straight to the subject of salvation by grace through faith and eternal life and if they say, "Oh yeah, that's what I believe," do you know what? I show them clear Scriptures on soul sleep; clear Scriptures on hell; clear Scriptures on dividing the body and the soul. Do you know what? That's their problem. That's more important. That's just my opinion. I think you're going to make more progress with them than just arguing about Saturn day versus Sun day. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't really matter.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and the truth. We thank you for all the prophets that you've sent us. We thank you that none of them were weird like Ellen G. White. We thank you for the truths of the Bible that we can trust and we thank you for our church where we can get together with other people who believe the Bible only and not these cunningly devised fables. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
