Polemics - Discernment - Seventh Day Adventism

We're going to be moving from Mormonism, our topic last time, to Seventh-day Adventism. And what's interesting is it seems like most of the Christian cults came out of the United States and a lot of them out of the 1800s. Not entirely, but a lot of them It's funny, it's like there was a particular social context to generate all these cult groups. And then, of course, because a lot of them had strange approaches to scripture, and their own unique approach to scripture, you'd get splinter groups coming off of the cult groups.

Seventh-day Adventism. Anybody have a friend or relative that's a Seventh-day Adventist? You've got a few of those. We have some hospitals in the area that are Seventh-day Adventists. We have a Republican presidential candidate who is a Seventh-day Adventist, Ben Carson. So anyway, they are about and impacting things. I have a good friend back in Carson City who is a former Seventh-day Adventist. He was brought up a Seventh-day Adventist.

He still has family trying to pull him back into the fold, and oh no. So at any rate, Seventh-day Adventism began with a Baptist preacher, William Miller. And he had convinced everyone that Jesus was coming back on October 2nd, 1844. And everybody goes and sells everything and puts on white robes and stands up on a mountaintop.

I'm not sure why you do that, because the Lord's coming back. But that's what they did, and it was, of course, a great disappointment, because all those things about no man knows the day or the hour, all that just gets completely ignored. I'm not sure why. But anyway, it was a great disappointment, and then they tried to set subsequent dates and that kind of thing, and none of them ever turned out. Matthew 24, 36 says, of course, but of that day and hour, the coming of the Son of Man, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. The timing of these things is set by the Father, and that's something that people just don't seem to get. You're not going to be able to look through the pages of scripture and figure out what only the Father knows.

So the Bible and Ellen G. White equally inspired. Now, what they do, just to cut it short, what they do is they look at the Bible through the lens of Ellen G. White's writings. So if you just go to the Bible, they won't see it, because they look at the Bible through Ellen G. White's writings, and she's got a number of them.

And so, I have some quotes here, I won't go through them all, but in the end, that's what they do. They look at her writings as the means of interpreting scripture. So if you are trying to talk to them, that's something to be kept in mind. They're going to look at scripture with regards to how did Ellen G. White see them. Alright, let's look at the top of page two.

So let's look at the, is that what they teach? The bottom line here is, we're going to hit several different subjects, we won't hit all the different things where they've got strange and aberrant teachings. But here's some quotes, and this is from some of their writings.

The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, was not to cancel sin. It will stand in the sanctuary until the final atonement. So in the Seventh-day Adventism, sin has not been dealt with. Sin has not been dealt with.

When Christ said, it's all paid, it is finished, as many of the translations, in the perfect tense, completed past action, ongoing results in the future, they say, uh-uh. Now while our great high priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Instead of coming to the earth at the termination of 2,300 days in 1844, Christ didn't come back, so let's make it something else that can't be verified, right? And so it's Christ then entered the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement, preparatory to his coming. Wow. Paul is going to really be disappointed. Yeah.

However, the Bible says, here's John 19, 28-30, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, This is a perfect passive verb. A completed past action with ongoing results in the future. To fulfill the scripture said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Literally, it is paid. Another perfect passive verb. A completed past action with ongoing results on into the future. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. So is it done and paid for or is it still yet to be done?

It's completely done and paid for, final, nothing more to be done, but that's not the way Ellen G. White saw it. So the Seventh Adventists say, no, it's not complete yet. Acts 13, 38-39, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through him everyone who believes is freed, that is justified, redeemed, forgiven, and declared righteous from all things, from which you could not be freed, justified, redeemed, forgiven, and declared righteous through the law of Moses. What does the Seventh-day Adventist Church think about the law of Moses?

They pick and choose through it. But you got to do it. And of the Ten Commandments, which one is the most important? The seventh! Right? And so this, you know, the Sabbath day, the Sabbath day, the seventh day, is the most important one. So you got to keep it. But, Now let's take a further look here. Hebrews, at the top of page 3, Hebrews 7, 21 through 28.

The former priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. But Jesus on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this he, Jesus, did once for all. That word is haphax, which means once done, perpetually valid, when he offered up himself. Was it done once and perpetually valid? Yes. Yes, it was complete.

Hebrews, when he offered up himself for the law, appoints a man as high priest who are weak, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever. Hebrews 10, 10, and 14, by this will we have been sanctified, perfect passive verb, a completed past action with ongoing results unto the future, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hapax, once done, perpetually valid, for by one offering is perfected, is the perfect passive verb, completed past action, ongoing results in the future, for all time, those who are sanctified, present passive participle. That's the ongoing, the last part is the ongoing process.

Our position, it's already done. Christ did it once for all. It is paid. Completed past action. It's all done. It is still being done and has yet to be done. Now, in Seventh-day Adventism, can you lose your salvation? Yes, you can. In Seventh-day Adventism. Is that consistent with scripture? No, it is not. No, it is not.

So from the Seventh-day Adventist documents, we find this about judgment of those who have taken on the name of Christ. So if you call yourself a Christian, at the time appointed for the judgment, all who have ever taken upon themselves the name of Christ must pass its searching scrutiny. You're still being tested all the way to the very end. Both the living and the dead are to be judged out of the things which were written in the books according to their works.

While good works will not save even one soul, yet it is impossible for even one soul to be saved without good works. Huh? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Good luck with that. Let's see. The judgment is to set the books are to be open and we are to be judged according to our deeds.

And the judgment is to determine whether or not you are saved. Every case has been decided for life or death while Jesus had been ministering in the sanctuary the judgment had been going on for the righteous dead and then for the righteous living. So in the great day of final atonement, oh boy, still yet to happen, right? In the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment, the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God. Call yourself a Christian, you'll be tested. Some will pass, some won't. And you've got to be perfect. You've got to do it all right.

As the books of record are open in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God, beginning with those who first lived upon the earth. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life. and their record of the good deeds will be erased from the book of God's remembrance. By the way, I've done a top-to-bottom study of the book of life and no names are ever blotted out of the book of life.

It doesn't happen. In fact, Jesus promises to the overcomers, Revelation 2 and 3, there's the overcomers at the end of each of the messages, promises to the overcomers, I absolutely will not, it is not the slightest chance that I'll block your name out of the book of life. So, anyway.

However, the New Testament includes these passages, John 10, 25-30. Jesus answered them, these are the Jewish leaders, I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name, these testify of me. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never, this is this umme, not the slightest chance, not even remotely possible, perish, middle voice, of their own doing.

It is not even remotely possible that they will perish of their own doing. I can blow it in fellowship with the Lord, but I can't blow it eternally. It is not even remotely possible that they'll perish of their own doing. Ellen G. White, however, says it's all about what you do. No one will snatch them out of my hand, so I can't blow it. Nobody else outside is going to take me out of Christ's hand.

And my Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand either. I and the Father are one in essence. One in essence. By the way, Jehovah's Witnesses, we'll get there, Jehovah's Witnesses are told that I and the Father are one in purpose. But that's not what the Greek says. One in essence.

Romans 3.28, for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. What are you justified by? Faith, and what do works have to do with it?

Not at all. It's the exact opposite of what Ellen G. White has been telling the people in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved, a perfect passive verb, completed past action, ongoing results in the future. The passive indicates it is God who does the saving, not me. All I did was believe. That's it. God says that's all I need, I'll take it from there. Yes?

I walked in a few minutes late, so I may have covered this and I missed it, but did any of the leadership of this church when it was getting founded have any knowledge of the Greek? I mean, because you're countering the Greek, but I mean... Yes. understanding of their understanding?

Actually, Pacific Press Publishing used to be just a few blocks away from where I lived in Mountain View. That's their official publishing house. I would go and spend hours at a time in their library and look through their stuff. And yes, they have people that know the Greek and they've got people that are scholars in different things, but they interpret everything through her eyes.

So even though you look directly at the Bible and you say, well that doesn't square up at all, they interpret everything through her eyes and what she has said. That's just the way they look at it. It's just one of those things that I think is fascinating, because when you talk to different people from different cults, they're quoting someone knowledgeable somewhere else, or who's been given special revelation or whatever else, but in this case, Well, we're in Hog Hill, so we really, really have it hammered down on our identification. But it seems like there's just a severe ignorance of the text. Yes, there is.

But it's ignorance that is not from Just being plain ignorant, it's ignorance where what Ellen G. White has written overrides the plain meaning of the text. And it's the same thing we saw in Mormonism, that they'll have things that look plenty biblical, but some later revelation will override it. The Book of Mormon says God does not change. Multiple places. but they have revelations that override that. And so our sense of, you know, what does this say and interpretation and all that just goes out the window because they're looking at it through other eyes, through another lens.

Nancy and I heard a fellow speak once, his name is Mark Martin, He's a pastor down in the Phoenix area. And he was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. And in reading the Bible, he just discovered, you know, I don't need this Ellen G. White stuff. And he saw the problem. And then he just began teaching the Bible.

And no reference to Ellen G. White. And the higher-ups said, wait a minute, you're not towing the line here. And he says, well, I'm just going to teach the Bible. And they said, well, then you're out of here. Pitchy retirement and all that kind of stuff. So that's what he came across. But no, they must have the Ellen G. White perspective on any passage. Here's Philippians 3, 7 through 11.

But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted loss for the sake of Christ. Using an accounting term, I've written them off. I've written them off. More than that, I count all things to be loss. I write everything off in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish.

Skubalon. Refuse. actually sewage, and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." Now what part does he rely upon of the law of Moses?

Zip. Nothing. All the things that he had under his Jewishness, and he counted seven of them, just prior to this. Seven things. He says, I write it all off. I'm of this tribe, and I'm under Gamaliel, and I had circumcised on the eighth day, and everything was done right, and he says, I'm writing it all off as a loss.

Revelation 3, 5, and 6, he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not, here's the umme again, not even remotely possible to erase his name from the book of life and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. So the only mention of erasing a name in the book of life is the promise that it absolutely will not happen. That's what the Bible says. So this is the only place where it talks about erasing a name, and it promises absolutely it is not going to happen. Not going to happen.

So let's take a look at page 5. Regarding the future judgment of church-age believers, scripture says in 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15, According to the grace of God, which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.

But each man must be careful how he builds on it, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire.

Suppose I don't have any good works, can I still be saved? Yes, that's what this is saying. We jokingly say that some people are going to enter heaven naked and smoking. That essentially their works will be tested, And if any remain, then those are rewardable. If any don't remain, they will still be saved. Because works don't save you.

Regarding the future judgment of all unbelievers, so it's those who believe this is a judgment, Those who don't believe, this is what we're seeing here in Revelation 20, 11-5. We're going to make reference to this also in today's main service. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, and from whose presence heaven and earth fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.

People will have arrived here because their name is not in the book. They'll have arrived here because their name is not in the book, and not because it was erased, it never was there. And as they come here, they'll be judged according to their deeds. But the judge according to their deeds is not the determiner of salvation.

And verse 13, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, and this is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Now, it is, it is, the question is your name in this book. No, then you go to lake of fire. The works do not determine whether you're saved or lost. For the believer, the works of the believer that are done by Christ is eternally rewardable. For the unbeliever, the works are the basis for greater or lesser judgment and punishment.

Sins, according to Ellen G. White, are placed on Satan. How about that? Satan is the sin bearer, not Jesus. It was seen also that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. So, Christ didn't bear your sins, according to Ellen G. White, Satan does. Then it says, their sins are transferred to the originator of sin, Satan.

The Bible says this about bearing our sins, Isaiah 53.6, All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on 1 Peter 3, 24 and 25, And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you were healed. Another aris indicative statement of fact in the past. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Who bore our sins? Christ, right? And not Satan. Is there an inconsistency there? Is there an inconsistency with sins being laid on Satan? Then why are the people being thrown out or found guilty. Yeah, well it's a very strange thing because what the Bible teaches about our sins, about our atonement, about Christ's work on the cross is not what the Seventh-day Adventists are being told. It seems like it doesn't even make sense because it's inconsistent that if Satan got all the sins laid on him then what's the problem with the poor guy that doesn't have the sin flavor, they're not his sins anymore. So he should be okay. Seems inconsistent. Yeah, that's a strange one. Here's another one. Ellen G. White says that a time will come when we will have to stand on our own apart from Christ.

Anybody like volunteer for that one? Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary, above are to stand on the side of a holy God without a mediator. Christ will not stand there and say, I paid for it. No mediator. You've got to stand on your own before a holy God.

And you'd better make a good showing of it. It isn't going to seek. But why is she saying that? Well, because she wants to scare the bejesus out of people. So she has no basis in the past? It's her revelation that she's gotten. And this is the thing about cults. Cults like to control people. And they do so using fear and threats. And we're the only ones with the truth. We're the only ones through, you know. which you can be saved, etc., and that's what cults do.

And so you're hanging in the balance, and instead of being in Christ, and entering eternity in Christ, you're apart from Christ, He stands aside, and you've got to depend on your own righteousness before a holy God. Good luck with that. You just said that the judgment scenario when Christ stands aside is why we have to live these holy lives that are full of fear on the earth. And the funny thing is that there is no principle that I'm hearing in these quotations that indicates any understanding of the Bible.

This is, you guys, some really big levers of pulling yourself up. And you've got to do it. You've got to do it, right? Yeah, there's no sense of abiding. There's no sense of, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who do the living. It's you've got to do it. You better do it. And you're going to stand apart from Christ. Here's the next quote. When Jesus ceases to plead for man, the cases of all are forever decided. This is the time of reckoning with His servants, apart from Christ.

Apostle Paul wrote in New Testament letters in Ephesians 2, 4-7, But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace you have been saved. And that, again, is perfect passive verb, a completed past action, ongoing results into the future. It's God who does the saving. We're the passive recipients of that salvation. It also implies permanence, unless the context indicates otherwise. For by grace you have been saved, past tense, already done. You're already saved.

It isn't hanging in the balance deciding whether or not you are perfect enough. And raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Are you going to go to heaven or stand before God and worry about whether or not I'm really going to make it? Or have you already been saved before you leave this earth, completely and totally saved, and are looking forward to spending eternity with the Lord, showing you His amazing, astounding grace? You're going to be forever in Christ, not standing apart from Him. Yeah?

The American attitude of the church being the bride looks like a really dysfunctional relationship. You reverse it and bring it back towards He's like, well, the groom is waiting for the father to figure out whether or not he's going to obliterate this candidate bride scenario. It's really abusive and scary.

Yeah, and you've got to do it. And it didn't matter that Christ died for your sins and all that. You've got to stand on your own. And here you are, you've been baptized into Christ, into his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, and that all goes out the window. Christ said under the law that any thought we have was as good as having committed the sin, because it was the uncleansingness of our thoughts. We're totally hosed. There's no way that what goes on inside of my mind ever is going to pass muster.

What did Paul say in Romans 7? Since I tried not coveting things, it seemed like a good idea. The law is holy and righteous and good, and my heart approves of it. But I try to not covet, and what do I do? I'm coveting and coveting and coveting and coveting. Right? This is the Apostle Paul. Right? Here's 1 Timothy 2, 5-7. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. So is he a mediator or not?

Jesus told the Jewish leaders, unless you believe you're going to die in your sins, positionally in them, if you're a believer, are you in your sins? No. You are in Christ. You're in Christ. And that's a day and night, heaven and hell difference. Ellen G. Wright wrote that we reach a point of sinlessness by obeying all of God's commands. Those who through faith in Christ obey all of God's commandments will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression. To be redeemed means to cease from sin.

The Bible however says, this is Galatians 3, 10-14, For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. Are you under the works of the law? You are under a curse, it says. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.

Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Through works of the law?

No. Faith. Period. Faith and that's all. Let's look at the top of page 7 here. So what's the problem here? The SDA, Seventh-day Adventist, holds that one must consistently observe SDA-selected portions of the law. Did the SDA carry out all 613 laws exactly as spelled out in the Law of Moses?

No, they cannot. The vast majority of them are not Jewish. They're not in the land. There's no temple, so you can't do that. Including food laws further restricted to vegetarianism. So what they do is they take the law of Moses and they say you've got to abide by the food laws and not have the pork and the crab meat and those kinds of things. You can't eat rabbits, none of those. So all those things, and additionally, you have to go vegetarian. You can't do the eating meat thing.

Where did that come from? Ellen G. White. Worshipping from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, Sabbath compared to Acts 20, verse 7, Colossians 2, 16 through 19, and tithing compared to 2 Corinthians 9, 7. The SDA Church does accept Ellen G. White's writings as supplemental to Scripture and the means through which Scripture is to be interpreted. And so that's why just straight studying Scripture is not going to fly with them. You have to see all of Scripture through the lens of Ellen G. White's viewpoint on things, which she has written.

The SDA Church does not accept Christ's work on the cross as complete, nor God's final declaration of righteousness on the basis of faith as a completed past action for those who believe. The SDA Church teaches that Christ is still weighing the deeds of believers with respect to their salvation until their final day on earth. Still weighing. The grace of God by God's accomplishment through Christ has been set aside entirely in SDA teaching.

So the church was founded back in 1831 with William Miller. So when did Ellen White come along and how did she get such an extreme hold in terms of theology? They have a history where this Miller guy, and of course there was this great disappointment, then she came along and said, well, it wasn't the day when the Lord was going to take the church up, but it was the day, and she made it something that was not verifiable.

It was that Christ was going to begin this mediation process in heaven, and how can I verify that? And so because that then gave them some renewed hope, she became one that they listened to. And so she ended up taking a leadership position and her revelations then gave people hope, supposedly, who had fallen into a place of great disappointment under William Miller. So, yeah, it's her revelations giving people hope.

Now, like Mormonism has a bunch of splinter groups, there are splinter groups off of Seventh-day Adventism as well. And that includes the Jehovah's Witnesses. But there are other ones. Remember some years back there was this big conflagration down in Waco and they had, you know, They had this cult group down there. That was an SDA splinter group. I'm sorry? Was Koresh a prophet then? Yes, he was looked upon as a prophet, but only by his subgroup, not by the main SDA group. But that was one of the SDA splinter groups.

So the Bible tells us, Romans 7, 4-6, Therefore, my brethren, you also are made to die to the law. Does that mean the law died? No, you died in relationship to the law. You died to the law through the body of Christ. So when Christ died on the cross, there were multiple purposes in his death.

One of those is to separate us from law or any principle of law. Any set of rules. that you might be joined to another. Who's the another? Christ. So therefore, if I think I still need to be under some laws, I'm doubting that I have been joined to Christ. You are separated from the law in order to be joined to Christ. Him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God.

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law." So what's the law going to do? It's actually going to stir up the sinful passions, not take care of them. For while we were in the flesh, The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter." So how many laws are we under? Zip, nun, nada. Nada thing. We died in relationship to the law.

And that's the same thing that Galatians 2.19 says. 1 Corinthians 1, 1-9.

Now here's Paul, he's writing to a messed up church. A church with lots and lots, frankly, some serious problems. But here's how he writes to them. Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth. So is this the church of God? Yes, it is. Church of God Accord.

To those who have been sanctified, and that is a perfect passive. In their position, this messed up church, this church where he's going to later tell them they're fleshly. But in their position, they've already been completely and totally sanctified, set apart and righteous and holy. In Christ Jesus, Why am I sanctified? How did I get sanctified? I'm in Christ Jesus. Saints by calling. He's calling these people saints. Saints by calling. With all who in every place call in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end." Do you have to sit there and worry about it? And wonder, boy, am I going to make it? I wonder how I'll do when Christ stands apart from me? Is that what the Bible says?

No. He will pull it off to the end. That's His job, not mine. He'll pull it off, confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He can tell them now that they're blameless. They're going to be completely sanctified. God's going to pull it off. It's His job. It's not mine.

There will never be any time, because I'm in Christ Jesus, when Christ will stand apart from me and I have to stand on my own. Praise God. And then verse 9, God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Is God going to test me and I've got to stand on my own?

No. He's going to pull it off and He's faithful. He'll do it. And He can tell this messed up church, with all kinds of problems, these things. Not threaten them. Boy, you're not going to handle the investigative judgment. It's not going to work out so good for you. When Christ stands apart, you're just going to be blasted. And you're going to go to hell. Oh, they don't believe in hell. They believe in annihilation.

Galatians 2.19-21 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live, in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. Let me read that again. If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. What the Seventh-day Adventist Church does is they completely set aside Christ's cross work, because after all, the sins end up on Satan anyway. Christ said, it is finished, and Ellen G. White says, ah, not so fast. Amazing, isn't it? Well, I got through that faster than I thought. Thoughts, comments, questions? Yeah, Stan?

So, basically all these cults are a form of legalism where you are expected to listen to man and God. Yeah, you start to develop the pattern, you look at Mormonism, you look at the Seventh-day Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses, it's all on you. Christ's payment was not final. There is loss of salvation. They always have to dangle that to keep you afraid, and keep you trembling, and for them to keep control. So there's loss of salvation. You step away from our group, and most of them have annihilation rather than hell.

So, interesting thing. From a marketing tactic, it allows people to feel special, but it also allows them to feel okay about the fact that they're part of this unique, special group. There's a psychological element to annihilation that's very compelling for a cause. Yes.

They will often have loss of salvation. They will often have some special revelation. They will often have annihilation rather than hell. So you just cease to exist. Interesting pattern. And here with the Seventh-day Adventists, they have completely set aside what Christ did. Christ died on the cross and it was basically useless. Because it didn't assure anything. And there's no sense of you're in Christ because you believe. There's no sense of final accomplishment because in the end you've got to do it. Yeah. But not only that, they are not giving any trust or faith in the Holy Spirit's power to work in an individual, right? I mean, it doesn't seem that that exists at all. Yeah.

What about the Bible? We would go to the Bible as an authority. What do these cult groups do? They usually have some other means of telling you what the Bible says. And it's either a past group or a current group. Like with Jehovah's Witnesses, they've got their council and president and all that. And so they have kind of ongoing interpretive authority. And you're not supposed to interpret it yourself. You've got to go to them and get the right understanding, even if that changes.

Yeah? Also, in addition to the church simply having facts in their security, how all this information It seems like most of these characters have a certain charisma that's very influential. Yep. There will be some charismatic leader or leaders that oftentimes people will center their focus on. I've been around some of those guys. Jim Jones. I've spent some time with him.

Basically a kind of mass hypnosis, and that's why people would take the Kool-Aid. I went to a little high school where you know everybody, and unfortunately several of the kids I went to high school with took the Kool-Aid with them down in Guyana. And you're right, this charismatic leader, people would go off the cliff for this guy, or gal, whoever it is. And yeah, go off the cliff.

I mean, you've seen side by side the Bible and Ellen G. White, and it's completely contradictory. But, you know, this sort of disconnect, it doesn't bother them. Yeah. It seems like it's just strictly a defiance of the old sin nature. The sin nature that's cleansing Earth. Yeah, yeah. It's almost like she wants to destroy the Word of God. Yeah, yeah. Yes? Given the, I'm going to use the term dispensational, but I don't mean that in the clinical sense. This new revelation creates kind of this new dispensation from the doctor. How do they, do they treat all believers prior to that? So from Paul to Ellen G. White in the second era? churchhood, or would people not say, or how do they handle that?

They look at the usual mainline denominations as having gotten real corrupted, and sometimes even will look at the Bible as having been very corrupted along with that. And then a lot of the different groups were vying for, you know, we're reestablishing the original And essentially during the 1800s there was a lot of that mindset that the Presbyterians and the Lutherans and all the standard denominations out there had gotten way off track and we're going to establish the original church properly and the way things were, supposedly. So Joseph Smith, for example, had debates with the Campbells, who founded the Church of Christ and the Christian Church and all that, the Campbellite movement. And then this, with the Seventh-day Adventists, it was more of the same. You know, we're going to establish things, re-establish things, because all these other denominations are off track. And the reality is, God never authorized denominations. And establishing a new one is never anything God expected either.

People have always been saved by faith, and whatever denominational corruption got put on top of there doesn't change. If someone believes the gospel, they're saved. And only that, and not some charismatic leader, or the right church structure, or this group or that group. Salvation is in Christ, not in a group.

Are these revelations that these, you know, the Jehovah's Witnesses in LNGY or Brussels or whatever, are they, they're from Satan, right? I mean, do you think that they, he's just saying one sin to God. Sure. Like putting all the sins on Satan. Yeah.

Can you imagine, I mean, because all these groups reduce what Christ accomplished and who he is, right? You saw there with Ellen G. White, what Christ did on the cross was pretty much worthless. I'm thinking, can she come up with all these or it's probably demonic. Yeah, likely demonic activity, satanic activity. And then you've got the sin nature involved with that. So yeah, this is a spiritual mess. Other thoughts, questions?

Oh, I neglected to mention, there are other things that I neglected to mention here. Ellen G. White's, a lot of her writings have been found to be plagiarized. You know, gee, this came from this, or this came from this other, you know, writing. And of course that's been a real embarrassment too, is she would take major sections out of somebody else's book and claim it was her own. So that doesn't come off so well either. But since the whole thing was invented and borrowed from other people, if she felt like that was the way to do it, I don't know how she thought she wouldn't get caught. Alright, so let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that we can stand on the truth of your word. And thank you for your true mercy and grace. The things that you have accomplished and done in our lives are indeed things that are finally accomplished. We do not have to go worrying and fretting. worrying until the last minute even on into eternity as to whether or not we're going to be saved. But we can rest assured that we indeed have been saved and sanctified and justified completely. And that we can count with confidence and a sure and certain hope that we will see you face to face. And we thank you for this assurance. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.