Is the Seventh Day Adventist Church a Cult?

"But examine everything carefully, hold fast to the truth"
(1 Thessalonians 5:21).


The weather has been fantastic here on Oahu and the other day, while taking King Kameamea hwy to north shore to experience the famous "surfing beaches" such as Pipeline, I saw a rather large Seventh Day Adventist Church on the north side of this beautiful island paradise and I realized that even being more than 2,500 miles from home that I cannot escape the reality of Biblical truth and false teaching. After seeing the Seventh Day Adventist Church my mind began to ponder the following...

I have noticed that the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) has a significant presence here in Oahu. Here are some of my thoughts on the Seventh Day Adventist Church and American Evangelicalism.

In today's postmodern world, the notion of absolute truth has been all but eviscerated from the collective consciousnesses of the vast majority of citizens now residing in contemporary society. Even more so, the very idea of an Evangelical body of doctrinal specificity and theological exactitude that determines the criterion of Biblical orthodoxy and heresy is voraciously deemed irrelevant, abhorrent and the height of Fundamentalist obstructionism by the atheistic and humanistic liberal intelligentsia that sets the ideological trends in our society.

Even in most quarters of today's Evangelical Christian Church in America, doctrinal precision and personal stands for conscience sake and doctrinal integrity goes against the grain and ecclesiastical expectations of today's theologically lapsed, seeker sensitive, pragmatic and emergent church orientated churches.

However, in diametrical counter distinction to this ad hoc doctrinal relativism, the Evangelical Christian Church since its inception has always been founded on and greatly concerned about Biblical truth. The Evangelical Christian Church is founded on the Biblical and revelational proposition that an "Evangelical theology" is possible.

That is, in direct ideological opposition to contemporary post modernistic anti-doctrinarism, historic Christianity maintains and espouses that Almighty God does exist and has spoken specifically, propositionally and coherently to human civilization in the perfectly and uniquely inspired, infallible, inerrant, authoritative and self-authenticating Word of Almighty God (2 Timothy 3:15-17 and 2 Peter 1:18-21).

Having established that the Bible alone is the Evangelical Christians absolute and only standard of truth and in attempt to answer the question that serves as the eponymous title of this theological essay entitled, "Is the Seventh Day Adventist Church a Cult?” a specific Biblical criterion and definition of what Evangelicals mean by "cult" must be first determined. In other words, "what is a cult?"

While the term “cult” is not used within the pages of inspired Biblical Writ, the concept of heresy and false teaching is and Conservative Evangelical Christians residing within the North American Hemisphere have generally utilized the term "cult" to personify any religious group or sect that teaches a doctrine or dogma that is heretical. Heresy, according to the Oxford Dictionary is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary to the Orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church.

The pages of Holy Scripture and the written annals of ecclesiastical history are replete with a myriad of examples of heretical sects and aberrant groups that have arisen to teach unsound doctrines to draw away members of the true Church of Christ. The Arians, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are among those pernicious heretical sects who have been successful in drawing away members from the Faithful. (Matthew 7:13-15, Matthew 24:1-44, Acts 20, Galatians 1, 1 John 3-4 and Jude are chapters in the Bible that deal with this conception of false teachers and heretical doctrine being propagated amongst the elect.

Generally, a “cult” or heretical sect will teach egregious errors contrary to established Christian doctrine and in particular will be heretical concerning the triune God (they will deny the Trinity), justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone based on the authority of the Bible alone. And finally most cultic sects will supplant and replace the authority of the Bible with their own derived authority such as the Book of Mormon.

Now, in the case of the Seventh Day Adventist organization, (from here on mentioned as SDA) a tremendous debate has raged within conservative Evangelicalism over the doctrinal status of the SDA Church. For example, Anthony A. Hoekema, in his book, the Four Major Cults, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963, Hoekema argues that the SDA is definitely heretical and a cult, yet the late Evangelical cult expert Walter Martin in his book “The Kingdom of the Cults, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1965, argues that while the SDA has several serious doctrinal problems, Martin would not place the SDA in the same category as other groups deemed “cultic” such as the LDS Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In contemporary conservative Evangelical circles this same difference of opinion still remains as to how Biblical Evangelicals should view the SDA church.
In the face of this debate within contemporary Evangelicalism over the doctrinal and ecclesiastical status of the SDA church, the question immediately arises, “Why the Evangelical Disagreement over the Seventh Day Adventist Church?”
The issue of doctrinal status of the SDA church and how Biblical Evangelical Christians should regard Seventh Day Adventists is a complex one and every SDA member must be evaluated on a case by case basis. Some members or more biblical than others.

The SDA church is a religious organization that is well known for teaching that observing Saturday, the seventh day of the week is a universal and transcendent mandate for all humanity and that God commands all people to keep Saturday as the Sabbath.

The SDA movement was established in 1863 and grew out of the “Millerite Movement” in the mid 1800’s that gained enormous popularity when a Baptist minister named William Miller (1782-1849) sensationally predicted that Jesus Christ would return on October 22, 1844.

When the Second Coming of Christ (the Second Advent) did not occur a major disappointment occurred with many of Millers followers leaving the movement. However a significant portion of Miller's disciples remained within the movement and eventually began to follow a woman that many SDA believed to be a divinely inspired prophet named Ellen G. White (1827-1815).

During Ellen G. White's lifetime she was a prolific author (wrote 40 books, 5,000 journal articles and over 50,000 written pages in total) and undisputed prophetic leader of the SDA movement that now numbers over 14 million people worldwide.

Among the aberrant teachings of Ellen G. White and the SDA are as follows (From the Official SDA Website)

see: http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html

1. Sabbath Keeping is Mandatory:
The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom. The Sabbath is God's perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God's creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Luke 4:16; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Matt. 12:1-12; Ex. 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb. 4:1-11; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32.)

2. Levitical Dietary Laws

"Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures."


3. Soul Sleep (the dead are unconscious until the Second Coming)

The wages of sin is death. But God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people. When Christ, who is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous will be glorified and caught up to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the unrighteous, will take place a thousand years later. (Rom. 6:23; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; John 11:11-14; Col. 3:4; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; John 5:28, 29; Rev. 20:1-10.)

4. The Authority of Ellen G. White


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 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. (Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10.)


5. Investigative Judgment

There is a sanctuary in heaven, the true tabernacle which the Lord set up and not man. In it Christ ministers on our behalf, making available to believers the benefits of His atoning sacrifice offered once for all on the cross. He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry. It is a work of investigative judgment which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. In that typical service the sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things are purified with the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom. This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom. The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent. (Heb. 8:1-5; 4:14-16; 9:11-28; 10:19-22; 1:3; 2:16, 17; Dan. 7:9-27; 8:13, 14; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6; Lev. 16; Rev. 14:6, 7; 20:12; 14:12; 22:12.)


Conclusion

Many people over the years have asked me what I thought about the SDA Church. While the issue is complex, I generally believe there is enough false and destructive teaching in the SDA religion, that people should be very cautious about attending a SDA church. Sabbath Keeping, Keeping Old Testament Dietary Laws, Soul Sleep, the role of Ellen G. White and the Unbiblical and unwarranted teaching of the "investigative judgment" are seriously aberrant and false teachings that every Christian should avoid. Whether or not the SDA religion is a cult or not, I cannot say for certain, but it's shown me enough for me to avoid it. The SDA concepts of Sabbatariansim, "investigative judgment" Ellen G. White's prophetic authority and the pernicious doctrine of "soul sleep" are aberrant at best and border on being heretical.