Seventh Day Adventist Church

Seventh Day Adventist churches are catagorized generally as a dinomination of Christian churches. They use the same bible, Pray the same, go on mission trips, are nice to people, and do a lot of things us christians do. It's hard to tell the difference without getting into depth to know what they really believe.

History:

When: 1840s
Where: up state New York
How: as a phase of the Second Great Awakening, a group of adventists followed the Millierite Movement (william Miller). They believed based on Daniel 8:14-16, that the second coming of Christ would be 10.22.1844. When Christ didn't come at that time, they changed their theory into that on that day, Christ started cleansing the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Tempo.

Here are some of their 28 fundamental beliefs:

1. God is unchanging, so His laws are also unchanging. Therefore, people are still bound by the laws which calls us to live by it. (They do emphasize the fact that we are saved by grace, but there seems to be no connection between that the law is fulfilled by faith)

2. Sabbath is on the 7th day of the wejavascript:void(0)ek, which according to the bible is Saturday. People should worship on Saturdays. the "7th day" part of their name came from this. (Yes, it's true that Jesus taught and people rested on Saturdays, but this cannot eliminate the fact that we celebrate Jesus' resurrection on Sundays, because the bible also said Jesus rose on the first day of the week--Luke 24:1. Also, Sabbath is made for man not man for sabbath--mark 2:27)

3. The Great Controversy: Humanity is involved in the battle between Jesus and Satan, regarding his people and God's character. (Basically Jesus didn't come down just for our salvation, He came down to fight Satan. In the book it argues that Satan accuses God of being selfish for not sharing his power. This led the fall of the angels. Jesus came to prove that God is not selfish by dying on the cross. John 3:16-17, God never mentioned anywhere in the bible that Jesus coming down to fight Satan as part of the story ).

4. In 1844, Jesus started cleansing the Heavenly Sanctuary (we never know what happend)

Some of Outward Living:

1. They are completely bound by the old testiment Law, that their diet follows the Kosher Laws in Leviticus 11 strictly.

2. They dress strictly (This is a good thing).


Personal Experience:

I had the chance to have 6-7 bible studies with a 7th day adventist friend. The things I learned from her are shocking. They have a lot of specific interpretations of the prophecy books (Isaiah, Daniel...) and revolation. A lot of them are too specific that sound really spooky. Actually, it was those theories she was telling me that got me to doubt their belief. One really serious one is that she openly proclaimed that the Roman Catholic Church system was the anti-Christ according to Daniel and Revolation. That RCC changed time (Saturday worship to Sunday), established an idol for people, who is able to forgive sins (pope replacing Jesus), and etc.

Revelation 14:11-12 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the endurance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

This verse is used to show that if people don't follow God's laws, they bear the mark of the beast, and at judgement day, what people choose will decide where they go. When I asked her that in her definition whether I would go to hell or not if I worship on sundays, she said that not now, but if you still choose to follow man not God on the judgement day, then yeah you bear the mark of the best...

Prayer Requests:

Pray that the people will come to know the truth.

Pray that people will not accept the truth that Satan smartly twist.

Pray that Christians will know for themselves what they believe in to resist these kind of forces.