By Leif L.
This article is a continuation of the previous, about the spiritual touchstones of Judaism and Christianity.
“Touchstone” Series:
1. The Sabbath: Touchstone of Spiritual Reality?
2. The Sabbath and the Touchstone of Christianity
3. The Spiritual Touchstone of Adventism
4. The Spiritual Touchstone of Sabbatarianism
5. The Sabbath: Touchstone Fulfilled
There is a tendency among Sabbatarian Christians and their organizations to diminish the centrality of the cross in their theology. Seventh-day Adventists have historically objected to the biblical doctrine that Christ finished his atonement at the cross, which is the cornerstone of the gospel.
Examining Core Beliefs of Historic Adventism
Consider these quotes from Ellen G. White, the prophetess and founder of Seventh-day Adventism:
“The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, was not to cancel the sin; it would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement . . . . Then by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ, the sins of all the truly penitent will be blotted from the books of heaven. Thus the sanctuary will be freed, or cleansed, from the record of sin” (PP 357-58).
“[In 1844] our great High Priest entered the Holy of Holies [in heaven] … to there make atonement for all who are shown to be entitled to his benefits.” “Christ entered the holy of holies to perform the closing work of the atonement.” (The Great Controversy, 308, 428)
“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. … Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, … so Satan, … will at last suffer the full penalty of sin. (Ibid., 422, 485, 486)
Satan bore not only the weight and punishment of his own sins, but also of the sins of the redeemed host, which had been placed upon him.” (Early Writings, pp. 294, 295).“Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil.” (Ibid., 425)
I encourage all Bible-believing Christians to compare the statements above with the plain reading of the Holy Scriptures:
- That the blood Jesus shed on the cross did not cancel sin
- That our Saviour has been performing His work of atonement in heaven since 1844
- That Satan is the final sin-bearer for the transgressions of God’s people
- That Christians will stand before God the Father without Jesus as their mediator
Each of these assertions are antagonistic to the gospel, affecting the very core of the Biblical doctrine of salvation through Christ. I believe that these points of belief spin off the particular brand of Sabbatarianism espoused by historic Adventism, and that they are synergistic ideas that support each other.
The Touchstone of Historic Adventism
As we had discussed in our previous article, a touchstone is something whereby an article is tested, and either passes or fails the test of being genuine. Whereas the completed work of our Saviour on the cross is the touchstone of Christianity, and faith in Him and his work is the mark of a true Christian and prerequisite for salvation, Ellen G. white believed that:
The Sabbath is the great test question. It is the line of demarkation between the loyal and true and the disloyal and transgressor. … It is the seal of the living God.” (Selected Messages Vol. 3, p. 423.)
You see, in Adventism, the great test of a person’s acceptance with God is not faith in Christ’s complete and sufficient sacrifice, not even his role as mediator, but their own performance as measured by the keeping of a ceremonial commandment.
The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part. Men have honored Satan’s principles above the principles that rule in the heavens. They have accepted the spurious sabbath, which Satan has exalted as the sign of his authority. But God has set His seal upon His royal requirement. Each sabbath institution bears the name of its author, an ineffaceable mark that shows the authority of each. It is our work to lead the people to understand this. We are to show them that it is of vital consequence whether they bear the mark of God’s kingdom or the mark of the kingdom of rebellion, for they acknowledge themselves subjects of the kingdom whose mark they bear. God has called us to uplift the standard of His downtrodden Sabbath. (E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church 6:352)
The Touchstone of Modern Adventism
Even today, it is the Sabbath, not the cross, that is the central motif of the Adventist religious belief system, as stated on their official web site:
“The Sabbath encompasses our entire relationship with God. It is an indication of God’s action on our behalf in the past, present, and future. The Sabbath protects man’s friendship with God and provides the time essential for the development of that relationship. The Sabbath clarifies the relationship between God and the human family, for it points to God as Creator at a time when human beings would like to usurp God’s position in the universe.
In this age of materialism, the Sabbath points men and women to the spiritual and to the personal. The consequences for forgetting the Sabbath day to keep it holy are serious. It will lead to the distortion and eventual destruction of a person’s relationship with God.
When the Sabbath is kept, it is a witness to the rest that comes from trusting God alone as our sustainer, as the basis of our salvation, and as the ground of our hope in the future. As such, the Sabbath is a delight because we have entered God’s rest and have accepted the invitation to fellowship with Him.” From http://www.adventist.org/en/information/official-statements/documents/article/go/0/sabbath-observance/
The idea that the “Sabbath encompasses our entire relationship with God” has never been a doctrine of the Christian church, and finds no resonance in the New Testament Scriptures. To the Adventist, the Sabbath performs the following roles in the life of the believer:
- Protects his friendship with God
- Clarifies the relationship between himself and God
- Points people to God
- Is a witness of true rest
- Forms the basis of salvation
- Is the ground of hope for the future
Added to this list is the warning that disregarding the Sabbath will destroy a person’s relationship with God.
These ideas do not find their ethos in Christianity, but derive them from Judaism: that mankind’s problem of sin is primarily remedied by human effort through obedience and observance of keeping of a weekly ceremony, rather than through faith in the efficacious work of our Lord and Saviour, and his shed blood on our behalf.
This is the reason why Adventism has so much trouble understanding and accepting the cross as the centre of their faith. Indeed, on the page quoted above, Jesus Christ and His work of salvation is not even mentioned. It has been entirely eclipsed by the Sabbath, because the cross is the reality of which the Sabbath was a shadow. It is impossible to serve two masters.
Here are more quotations from Ellen White regarding the necessity of Sabbath keeping for salvation:
“It means eternal salvation to keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord. God says: “Them that honor Me I will honor.” 6 Testimonies, p 356
“Sabbath is the separating wall between believers and unbelievers”, Early Writings, p 85
“But if we turn aside from the fourth commandment, so positively given by God, to adopt the inventions of Satan, voiced and acted by men under his control, we cannot be saved. We cannot with safety receive his traditions and subtleties as truth.” Review and Herald, July 6, 1897
“No one who disregards the fourth commandment, after becoming enlightened in regard to the claims of the Sabbath, can be held guiltless in the sight of God.” Review and Herald, July 6, 1897
“All will be judged according to the light that has shone upon them. If they have light upon the Sabbath, they cannot be saved in rejecting that light.” HS 234.3
“As persons become convinced from the Scriptures that the claims of the fourth commandment are still binding, the question is often raised, Is it necessary in order to secure salvation that we keep the Sabbath? This is a question of grave importance. If the light has shone from the word of God, if the message has been presented to men, as it was to Pharaoh, and they refuse to heed that message, if they reject the light, they refuse to obey God, and cannot be saved in their disobedience.” Review and Herald, January 5, 1886
This article is continued in “The Spiritual Touchstone of Sabbatarianism“.
Updated January 3, 2015
Solus Christus | In Christ Alone 
Thanks Leif, that was good, and enlightening. The thought that Satan is my scapegoat is so far from the beautiful and captivating truth of “the just for the unjust” (2 Cor 5:21). I’m baffled, and even I think provoked to a sense of self-righteousness (see, it wasn’t my fault!) by the first. I’m brought to humbled gratitude by the other.
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Amen! I am glad to see others sharing the “Bible Truths”. I feel the Spirit is calling us to go back to the Bible (Sola scriptura) and leave the doctrines of man behind. I do not believe it is a coincidence that some of us are doing just that. Keep the Faith!
Regarding:
“But if we turn aside from the fourth commandment, so positively given by God, to adopt the inventions of Satan, voiced and acted by men under his control, we cannot be saved. We cannot with safety receive his traditions and subtleties as truth.” Review and Herald, July 6, 1897
This statement self-condemns all sabbath-pretending, false prophetess promoting, false Christ promoting SDA’s who cannot fathom that all their heresy, fakery and lying makes THEM the ones who turn aside from their much-venerated fourth commandment, and all the law in reality. How do we know that? A quick reading of James 2:10 tells you that the Godless SDA’s who fake Christianity and uphold devilish Ellen White filth actually break the whole law.
They suppose this applies to those poor, mislead, if not wicked, Sunday-churchers. In reality it is Ellen White condemning all SDA’s. Pretty fitting for a people who unknowingly worship him who came to steal, kill, and destroy. It is SDA hell being on the wrong side of everything.
Funny thing: SDA’s cannot find themselves as the topic of 1Tim 1:6-10. They likely think this applies to somebody else.
Regarding:
“they reject the light, they refuse to obey God, and cannot be saved in their disobedience.” Review and Herald, January 5, 1886
Pretty good picture of SDA self-condemnation, as Jesus said He was the Light (SDA’s think the Light is sabbath, this is the sin of idolatry and not belueving Jesus), and the SDA’s readily reject and violate His N.T. commands!
They think this quote only applies to those rascally Sunday-churchers.
SDA’s should brace themselves to be not saved in their own brand of disobedience to the Son. Those who do not believe or obey the Son are condemned already and remain under God’s wrath, see John 3:18,36
In 1844 they did not believe Jesus’ teaching: no man knows the day or hour.
They moved on to disobeying a plethora of His other teachings while still pretending to keep days holy. And disfellowshipping with Sunday-churchers, another of their many sins. Such pious frauds.
Regarding:
“But if we turn aside from the fourth commandment, so positively given by God, to adopt the inventions of Satan, voiced and acted by men under his control, we cannot be saved. We cannot with safety receive his traditions and subtleties as truth.” Review and Herald, July 6, 1897
Ellen White’s lies prove she has already turned aside from all commandments, see James 2:10! It is also a lie that SDA’s keep a day holy. They do no such thing.
She has adopted inventions of satan (satan fulfilling role of scapegoat) and Wm Miller’s garbage, see 2John 1:9-11! She never once had God.
She is inadvertantly signaling that she cannot be saved!
See what a spiritual mess deceived SDA’s and the devilish she-prophet get into?
“Without Me you can do nothing” — Jesus, John 15:5
In spades.
Regarding:
“Sabbath is the separating wall between believers and unbelievers”, Early Writings, p 85
Just this lie alone, run through the little sin-calculator app in James 2:10, proves Ellen White never kept a day holy in her entire, pathetic, evil, satan-honoring life. If she wants to be judged by her own teachings, and she will, she is on a theme-park waterslide to eternal torment & hell.
“Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator.” Early Writings, page 425
Scripture does not speak of a Christ that ceases intercession for His own, this Ellen White, fabulous satanic she-prophet, is caught yet once again teaching a different, unscriptural, false Christ, showing she is again a minister of satan, see 2Cor 11:4,13-15 for proof. She runs ahead, not staying in the teachings of Jesus, proving she does not have God, see 2John 1:9-11.
Not only that, she is incapable of denying herself, violating Jesus’ command to deny self. She goes about asserting whatever she or the devil desire! Commandment canceling sin, ya know! See James 2:10 to see how many days SDA’s and their fake prophetess keep holy! None.
Obviously, Ellen White is an agent of satan, a deceiver, if possible, of the elect. Hardly a model of someone who keeps days holy!
She admits to not having a Mediator at some point! What ever made her think she had one in the first place?? John 6:65 says Ellen White does not come to Jesus unless the Father does something first, and He owes her and all SDA’s exactly nothing. She and her SDA kinfolk backhandedly admit they are ministers of satan with no future Mediator. They eventually tell on themselves, don’t they? They sin by being blinded by satan, yet seperate themselves from Sunday-churchers, yet another sin. All their sin cancels their many sabbath-keeping boasts. They have nothing but hell bound deception and wretched religious pride.
Their righteousness certainly does not exceed that of the Pharisees! So underwhelming, the Adventists.
REGARDING:
“The Sabbath … is the seal of the living God.” — Selected Messages Vol. 3, p. 423
True Christians understand that God Himself (Holy Spirit) is the seal of God, something quite uncreated, yet revered and worshipped (Trinity). See Eph 1:13
The satan-inspired SDA quote above shows spiritually that Adventists worship something that is non-God, and very much created. Friends, this is the wicked sin of idolatry in addition to the sin of bearing false witness, as Jesus never once believed nor taught sabbath was His New Covenant seal. It is not found in scripture. SDA’s are once again caught wickedly running ahead, not staying within Jesus’ teachings, proving they do not have God, see 1John 1:9-11. We can trust that SDA’s do not have God. How could they when they are so spiritually upside-down? So disobedient and rebellious to Jesus, proving they are condemned already and remain under God’s wrath (John 2:18 and 36)
So the Adventists muck about in their God-mocking idolatry, lying, and promoting a false-christ and false she-prophet, taking Jesus’ (God) name in vain, worshipping Him in vain, sinning 24/7, pretending to the whole world over their infernal satellite TV network that the keep a day holy! What utter deceived fakes! God must be having a good laugh at them (Psalms 2:4), for He laughs at the wicked and derides them. Good stuff to know! SDA’s have zero claims upon real Christ-followers. They promote their fake, 1844-concocted, idolatrous “christ”. It is their job to deceive others.
The SDA’s have never in 150+ years kept any of the 10 commandments (James 2:10, easy proof), much less ever kept any days holy as demanded in Exodus 20:8. They are pretty efficient self-defilers, though. Run all their deceived, snake-oil claims through the self-defiler-exposer app over in Mark 7:15,20-23. They defile themselves all day long, 24/7/365. Adventists have never stopped defiling themselves! It is their vocation.
And they deceive their little babies with the sin called Adventism, from birth. This is terribly offensive to Jesus as recorded in Luke 17:1,2. Here is what SDA parents, teachers, and pastors earn: Millstone. Around. Their. Neck. Pretty big, HEAVY piece of jewelry! Never be fooled by the treacherous, spiritually evil SDA’s. They keep nothing holy and just go about condemning themselves and the gullible to the uttermost. Such religious reprobate liars. They will wail and gnash their teeth for eternity in outer darkness, much well-earned, eternal torment. Hell is the highest reward for entangling with Adventism. All that sabbath, dietary, and 10-commandment, law-judging fakery really paid off! Adventism is for the spiritually stupid (same as reprobate).
They spend their entire lives living out multiple, anti-Christ lies from satan via Ellen White. Adventism is 100% sin. It is a cursed vehicle for blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is unforgivable sin. No amount of sabbath talk or 1844-concocted false-jesus talk is ever going to help them with their curse.
any match for cunning, experienced SDA liars!) that they are Christ-followers who opt to assemble on Saturdays. They are merely deceiving, false christian, religious liars, tares that will be thrown into eternal fire🔥 if God does not choose to rescue any of them from their Ellen White, satanic deception.
They rebel against Jesus’ easy teachings and they are very stubborn, adhering tightly to Ellen White teachings, devilish she-prophet. They cannot bear the thought of finding out she was a minister of Satan (2Cor 11:4,13-15)! They cannot bear obeying Jesus’ command in Matt 7:15-23 to beware satanic she-prophets. This is accounted to them as witchcraft and idolatry, see 1Sam 15:23. Fitting for a people who unknowingly, but willfully, stubbornly, worship a liar, the devil. 😈 Jesus will tell them to get away, He never knew them.
Ellen White was satan’s most dangerous tool, teaching doctrines of demons.
The 8:59 pm message got truncated, here is the complete message:
Regarding the SDA Satan fulfilling the shadow of Levitucus 16 scapegoat (OT Law that Jesus claimed He fulfilled), at the end of the world, thousands of years after the crucifixion, and certainly an SDA doctrine of demons:
Here is another instance of SDA’s worshipping a “jesus” who knew that satan is required to help Him fulfill the law (scapegoat, Lev 16) and prophets thousands of years in the future, but taught much different in Matt 5:17, Matt 11:13, Luke 21:22, and John 19:28. In other words, a liar. Satan is a liar. Do the quick spiritual math to discover that SDA’s have been tricked, deceived, and snookered by Ellen White into their own brand of Satan-worship; total, utter, worst-case idolatry. 😈
Another proof that SDA’s are deceived satan worshipers: True Christians worship the object of the scapegoat which is Jesus. SDA’s can protest all they want, but their stubborn, rebellious object of worship happens to be satan in more ways than one. They believe their satan fulfills holy law (SDA doctrines of demons)! Their rebellion to Jesus’ clear, simple teaching about fulfilling Lev 16 (scapegoat) LAW in Matt 5:17, Matt 11:13, Luke 21:22, and John 19:28 and their stubborness are accounted to them as witchcraft and idolatry, 1Samuel 15:23. Very fitting for unawares devil worshippers, as unsavory as it seems. They have painted themselves well into this corner. James 2:10 says that these idolatrous reprobates break the whole law! They keep ⓃⓄ (no) days holy!
Same goes for Daniel 8:14, their “pillar” verse. It was fulfilled either before Jesus time or during His time on earth, Matt 5:17, Matt 11:13, Luke 21:22, and John 19:28. Jesus never taught it to be fulfilled in 1844! The SDA’s can be seen worshipping an liar-idol of their own creation, a different, alien “jesus”. More big, fat, juicy, sabbath-canceling sin. They love their soul-blackening sin. No mechanism of them keeping days holy! Sin is like candy to them.
They go way beyond the teachings of Christ, proving they do not have God, see 2John 1:9-11. We are not to bid them godspeed nor allow them in our houses (lending them any sense of legitimacy), if you believe the testimony if St John, via the inspired Trinity. They deceive themselves and others that they have God and keep days holy. Pure deceived, satanic dreck ever since the 1840’s..
Then they preen and coo about keeping sabbath holy. Listen, people who practice this sort of stubborn, blatant, God-mocking witchcraft keep exactly NOTHING holy (James 2:10 proves this). They have never kept a day holy in their entire lives. It is all very strong delusion for them, 2Thess 2:9-12. The worst part is that they deceive Sunday-churchers (like 19-year-old Walter Martin, hardly any match for cunning, experienced SDA liars!) that they are Christ-followers who opt to assemble on Saturdays. They are merely deceiving, false christian, religious liars, tares that will be thrown into eternal fire🔥 if God does not choose to rescue any of them from their Ellen White, satanic deception.
They rebel against Jesus’ easy teachings and they are very stubborn, adhering tightly to Ellen White teachings, devilish she-prophet. They cannot bear the thought of finding out she was a minister of Satan (2Cor 11:4,13-15)! They cannot bear obeying Jesus’ command in Matt 7:15-23 to beware satanic she-prophets. This is accounted to them as witchcraft and idolatry, see 1Sam 15:23. Fitting for a people who unknowingly, but willfully, stubbornly, worship a liar, the devil. 😈 Jesus will tell them to get away, He never knew them.
Ellen White was satan’s most dangerous tool, teaching doctrines of demons.