The Truth About the Seventh Day Adventist Church
The Seventh Day Adventist Church is not the church of the Bible. The Seventh Day Adventist church was born in New Hampshire, in 1844. The church of the Bible was established in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (the first day of the week) in the same year Jesus died and was raised from the dead (see Acts 2). The Seventh Day Adventists have their headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Church of the Bible has its headquarters in heaven, because that is where Jesus, the head of the church, is (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 3:1). Aside from these things there are at least 3 obvious things wrong with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. It has the wrong name, the wrong day of worship, and the wrong hope.
THE WRONG NAME
What’s wrong with the name of the Seventh Day Adventist Church? You can’t find it anywhere in the Bible. The Seventh Day Adventists decided on their name in 1860. Instead of going back to the Bible and trying to be the church that Jesus built (Matthew 16:18), the Seventh Day Adventists wear a name that was decided and determined by men. The church of the Bible has several names: It is called the churches of Christ (Romans 16:16), the church of God (1 Corinthians 1:2), the church of the living God (1 Timothy 3:15), and in many places it is simply called the church (Philippians 3:6; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:24). Seventh Day Adventists have decided to name themselves after doctrine. Nowhere do we find the church of the Bible named by a doctrinal belief or practice. How can it be the church of the Bible, the one true church, if it is not even mentioned in the Bible? And what’s really sad is that it has named itself after 2 false doctrines: The false doctrine of worshiping on Saturday and the false hope of an earthly kingdom.
THE WRONG DAY OF WORSHIP
The name – Seventh Day Adventist – emphasizes the wrong day for worship to God. This is the most distinctive doctrine of the Seventh Day Adventists – they believe in worshiping on the seventh day, Saturday, instead of on the first day of the week, Sunday. This is a false doctrine. When the people of Israel were delivered out of slavery in Egypt, God gave them the Sabbath law. The law was that they should not work on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, Saturday. Ezekiel 20:10-12 – "Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." Exodus 16 records how God gave them manna to eat. At the same time he gave them the Sabbath law, that they should not gather manna on the Sabbath. In Exodus 20, when God gave the ten commandments, he expanded the law of the Sabbath. Exodus 20:8-10 – "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:"
The important thing to remember about this is that the Sabbath law was given to the Jews. The Bible does not record that anyone else was ever commanded to keep the Sabbath. God sanctified the seventh day at creation (Genesis 2:1-3). But we never see anyone commanded to keep the Sabbath until the time of Israel. Seventh Day Adventists still try to keep the Sabbath law. They fail to realize that the Old Law was done away in Christ. In fact, the New Testament is plain that the Sabbath law was done away. Colossians 2:14-17 – "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." The Sabbath law is now over, and God has set aside the first day of the week – Sunday – as our day of worship. Jesus was raised on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). In Acts 20:7 the disciples came together to take of the Lord’s supper on the first day of the week. Also, in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Christians are commanded to give on the first day of the week – Sunday. Sunday is the proper day of worship.
THE WRONG HOPE
The term Adventist in the name of this false religion emphasizes their belief that the return of Jesus is imminent – that he will return very soon. William Miller taught that the second coming of Christ would occur in the first half of the 19th century, before 1850. He later pinned it down to 1843, but it didn’t happen. Then his followers were led to believe that Jesus would return in 1844. It didn’t happen then either. No one knows when Jesus will return. Jesus said that very plainly in Matthew 24:36, 42, and 44. For men to try to establish the date by mathematical calculation is foolish. Jesus could return tomorrow, or he could wait another 2000 years. Furthermore, the Adventists believe that when Jesus returns He will then set up His kingdom and begin His 1,000 year reign. This is false. Jesus is already reigning on the right hand of God (Acts 2:33-34; Colossians 3:1). The kingdom of God is already here. It came in the generation of those who listened to Jesus preach (Mark 9:1). It is the same as the church which Jesus built (Matthew 16:18-19), and we who are Christians have already been translated into it (Colossians 1:12-13). Those who are waiting for the kingdom to come are too late.
When Jesus comes again this world will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:9-13), and he will not begin to reign as king, he will deliver the kingdom back to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24).
CONCLUSION
There is one other thing we should notice that is wrong with the Seventh Day Adventist church: their erroneous understanding of Baptism. The Seventh Day Adventist church baptizes with the proper method – they immerse people in water – but they do not baptize people for the right reason. It’s true, the Seventh Day Adventist church does not baptize people so that they can be saved and united with Christ, rather they view baptism as a symbol of our unity with Christ. The difference is profound:
The Bible teaches that we are baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27). Seventh Day Adventism teaches we become one with Christ, and later are baptized as a symbol of the union. The Bible teaches baptism saves us (1 Peter 3:21). But the writings of the Seventh Day Adventist church do not even mention baptism when teaching about salvation.
In the Bible, baptism is the point at which people contact the death of Christ (Romans 6:3-4), and have their sins washed away (Acts 22:16). When we are baptized we are baptized into the body of Christ, the church.
IF YOU WERE BAPTIZED INTO THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH, YOU WERE NOT BAPTIZED INTO THE TRUE CHURCH, AND YOU WERE NOT BAPTIZED FOR THE RIGHT REASON. You need to find a church of Christ in your area and let them baptize you into the true church, the one built by Jesus, established in Jerusalem in the first century – the church of the Bible.