Lately, I have browsed the internet and read comments written by people who have opinions about the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Some remarks made by some who attend, used to attend, or have never been to one of the churches at all. Why don’t we eliminate a couple misconceptions about the denomination.

We Are Not A Cult In the 33 years I have been in this denomination, I have yet to find a fundemental belief that was not backed up by scripture. We do not encourage misdemeanor or the breaking of any law of the land or law of God. Unfortunally, all churches are full of people who by nature are sinners. We tend to bring our problems into the fold, rather than overcome those problems. Too often some, not all, think themselves to be sinless. If one were sinless that would defeat the purpose of needing a Savior.

The Sabbath Will Not Save You. While the fourth commandment, like all the ten is important, merely following the Ten Commandments; believing doctrines; and doing works is not going to guarantee admission into the kingdom. Not saying those aren’t important; they are, but it goes a little deeper.

““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Ask yourself, Where is my heart? What are my intentions? Do I love doing good? Do I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior? Do I have a relationship with Him?

We seek to keep the sabbath because like the other commandments, it is written down. Yes, some of us get into the danger of making it all about legalism.

We Are Not All The Same This is for people in general, as we all should have learned in grade school. While those in this church worship the same God, we don’t all have the same personalities. Just because you met one or a couple Adventists, doesn’t mean you know them all. 

I’ll take myself for example.

• While I do vote, I don’t consider myself liberal or conservative. I’m not just looking at policies, I look at personalities. I pray for our world leaders. It’s sad when we let politics divide us in God’s house.
• I eat clean meat.
• My methods of ministry are singing, writing, and showing love to others.
• I don’t like long sermons.
• I encourage women to preach.
• In my opinion, you can find good Christlike lessons even in some secular literature; television; and films.
• I don’t believe Sabbath to be a day to just go to church and wait for the sun to go down. Sabbath should be a day to do good unto others. In regard to working on this day, some occupations are essential. People need to eat, be healed, and be protected and saved.
• If you have a question about scripture or my opinion on something, I’ll aim to tell you in love. Still, you may not like the answer.

We Can Eat Meat If Jesus provided 5,000 people with bread and fish, and had four disciples whose professions were fishermen, I doubt having meat in your diet will keep you out of the kingdom.

Me, I enjoy hamburgers; chicken; turkey; lamb; fish; hotdogs; and beef. According to Leviticus, certain animals, such as cow; chicken; fish; and turkey are acceptable to consume. Shortly after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and asked if anybody had any meat for him to eat.

We Don’t Worship Ellen G. White

I don’t know about others, but the EGW writings for me are not a misplacement for the word of God. Nothing should be. My opinion: her writings point to and dive deeper into the Bible. Example, at the start of each chapter of the book Desire of Ages, White states where in the Bible each chapter is based on, as well as mentioning scripture throughout the chapter itself. Too often, I hear people inside and outside churches complaining how difficult the Bible is to underetand. Think of White as an explainer.

Do you think she was a prophet, I’m asked. Ms. White never claimed to be a prophet, but did call herself “The Lord’s Messenger“. Like any believer she had gifts. She used her gifts of vision; writing; and evangelizing for the glory of God, to bring people closer to Him; not to bring glory to herself. Regarding prophets and prophetess, ask yourself questions. Is this person calling themself a prophet? Are they charging you for their works? Are their words in line, backed by, and directly from scripture? Are they drawing you to closer God or drawing you closer to them?

Yes a couple of the things she said seem a little dated. Such as:

• The encouragement to not have insurance because of the risk of being ripped off.

• To not own expensive bicycles.
• That black people should have their own conferances because of the continual racial discrimination even in churches.

Before you react, you must also remember the time period White was living in(1827 – 1915) and see what holds up today. Bottom line- read her writings or don’t. Nobody is forcing you. If her writings have been forced down your throat, that is unfortunate, because God doesn’t force anything upon us. He gives us the option to accept Him or don’t.

We Are Not The Only Ones Going to Heaven I don’t even know if I’m going to Heaven.

What type of attitude is that, you ask. A person who knows he needs a better relationship with Christ. Let us see what scripture says.

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We are going to see all types of people make it into the kingdom. People we never expected. Whom we think may make it, may not enter.

‬‬Hopefully this clears up a few miscoceptions. If you had a negative experience with the Seventh- Day Adventist Church, that is unfortunate. I am not the face of the denomination, nor do I want to be. What I aspire to be is a light to the world. I love my faith and my current church, but I love Christ more. Again, like all people in this world, not all of us are the same.

Love you brothers and sisters.