Featured SDA: Cult of Fear-Mongers

The title of this thread: SDA: Cult of Fear-Mongers has a two-fold meaning.

(1) The SDA membership are kept in a state of fear by the ruling hierarchy.

(2) The SDA membership have a sworn duty to instill fear of Sabbath-breaking in all those they proselytize.

Perhaps you are among the elite ‘perfect’ who no longer sin?

Perhaps you have arrived at that perfection spoken of by the Prophetess White, “In order to let Jesus into our hearts, we must stop sinning” (Signs of the Times, March 3, 1888).

Also, “Christ died to make it possible for you to cease to sin” (Review and Herald, August 28, 1894).

Baptist Pastor D.M. Canright was 28 years an Adventist. The positions he held were among the highest of teaching authorities in their Church. In fact, there is a recent Adventist Ph.D. dissertation online, in which he is recognized several times for his doctrinal contributions to Adventist theology (source).

His denunciation of 7th-day Adventism is a classic work, originally published in 1889. I have in my library a 1948 exact reprint of the 1914 edition. The commendations of Evangelical Pastors and Theologians nationwide are enthusiastic for his honest, yet balanced, assessment of his 28 years working among the founding members of the Church, including the Whites.

Canright’s Credentials

“During two years, 1876-77, I was one of the general conference committee of three which had control of all their work in the world. There is no higher authority in the denomination…..Year after year I was elected on the boards having charge of their most important institutions, such as their Publishing House, College, Sanitarium, Sabbath School Association, etc., etc.” (p. 14).

Canright’s Personal Observations

“One of the highly objectionable features of that system is the bitter hostility of its believers towards all other churches. Their theory is that all churches but their own were utterly rejected of God in 1844 for not embracing Miller’s doctrine. Thus, Mrs. White says, “Satan has taken full possession of the churches as a body…..they have been filling up with every unclean and hateful bird. I saw great iniquity and vileness in the churches; yet they profess to be Christians” (Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, pp. 189-90).

“Largely they use tents to enter new fields. Being a novelty, they attract attention. At first they present subjects which will offend no one till they gain the confidence of the people. Gradually they introduce their peculiar dogmas, then come out more boldly, till at length they denounce all other churches as Babylon, and their pastors as hirelings and deceivers…….

“Hundreds of their men, women and even young girls, are trained with printed lessons which they learn by heart, to go from house to house and give Bible readings. At first they conceal their real object and name, till they get a foothold. Then they cautiously introduce their tenets, work against pastors and churches and lead many away” (pp. 29-31).

“People are led into Adventism from lack of information. Hence, when Adventism enters a town the people should be told plainly what it is, what its effects are, and wherein it is unscriptural” (p.32).

The Adventists have infiltrated this Baptist Board in a feeble attempt to win over proselytes.

In their pompous narcissistic minds, they believe they are the ‘third angel” whose message all mankind must hear through their preaching.

They are either outrageously naïve or outrageously conceited to think in this modern-day era of the Information Superhighway, Bible-believing Christians, no matter the denomination, are ignorant of their motives, methods and madness.

 

Part 15: Adventist Fear Factor Typical of All Cults

Why is it so difficult to escape a cult? There are several key reasons, not the least of which is the fear the power held by the cult leader/leaders is sufficient to eternally doom the escapees.

Cults are not a democracy. Its leaders determine ‘truth’ as well as discipline for dissenters.

Ex-Adventist D. M. Canright writes:

“In May, 1869, I was in Battle Creek for a month. Things were in bad shape. Elder White was in trouble with most of the leading men, and they with him. I was well convinced that he was the real cause of it all, but Mrs. White sustained him, and that settled it. They were God’s chosen leaders, and must not be criticized or meddled with…….Elder and Mrs. White ran and ruled everything with an iron hand. Not a nomination to office, not a resolution, not an item of business was ever acted upon in business meetings till all had been first submitted to Elder White for his approval. Till years later, we never saw an opposition vote on any question, for no one dared to do it. Hence, all voting was only a farce. The will of Elder White settled everything. If anyone dared to oppose anything, however humbly, Elder White or wife quickly squelched him. Long years of such training taught people to let their leaders think for them; hence, they are under as complete subjection as are the Catholics” (Seventh-Day Adventism Renounced, pp. 40-42).

“In July, 1873, myself and wife went to Colorado to spend a few weeks with Elder White and wife, in the mountains. I soon found things very unpleasant living in the family. Now my turn had come to catch it [their wrath], but instead of knuckling down, as most of the others had, I told the Elder my mind freely. That brought us into an open rupture. Mrs. White heard it all, but said nothing. In a few days she had a long written ‘testimony’ for wife and me. It justified her husband in everything, and placed us as rebels against God, with no hope of heaven, only by a full surrender to them” (p. 42).

“In the fall of 1880 I resolved to leave Adventism……..Our annual state meeting was at Clyde, Ohio. Elder and Mrs. White were there. My mind was made up to leave them as soon as the meeting was over. Against my protest they re-elected me president, Mrs. White urged it. Said I was just the man for the place; yet her special claim is to be able to reveal the hidden wrongs in the church. Here was an important matter. Why did she not have a revelation about it? No, I was all right as far as she knew, The next week I resigned, went East, and wrote Elder White that I would go with them no longer. Then Mrs. White sent me a long hand written revelation, denouncing me as a child of Hell, and one of the wickedest of men, though only two weeks before she thought me fit to be president of a conference!” (p. 47).

Canright Views Adventism a Yoke of Bondage

“Largely, people are drawn into the Seventh-Day doctrine through fear, fear of being damned if they refuse. Once in, they try to feel happy, but very few really are” (p. 59).

“Be it remembered there is a bondage worse than African slavery – the bondage of religious tyranny and superstition. I was held there for years and know its power.

“Milton F. Gowell, Chicago, gives so true a picture of Advent experience that I quote him in a letter to me. I was often at his father’s house in Portland, Maine, when he was a boy. He says: “My recollections of those days are full of the terrors of law, prophetic charts, Mrs. White’s visions, the Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath, health reform, bloomer dresses, and a great zeal for being industrious on Sunday, and little or nothing of Christ. All the doing was indelibly impressed on my mind, but the believing on Christ for salvation, and resting in his finished work, I have no remembrance of whatever. How many there are that join the Seventh-Day Adventists utterly unsaved, knowing nothing of the grace of God, hearing always barely the Law. I joined them at the age of 14, under conviction, guilty before God, but unsaved, though I was baptized and received into the church as a Sabbath keeper. I received no peace, no rest, till I entered into the rest by believing about 3 ½ years ago” (p. 61).

One Hundred Years Later Wallace Slattery Has the Same Testimony

“One of the most insidious forms of slavery today is mind control, in which one man or a group dictates the beliefs or actions of others. It is especially enslaving because the victim does not even know his mind is held captive.” [This is true of the Adventists on this board.]……. “[My wife and I] know the guilt and fear foisted on the laity by the General Conference and White Estate, as well as by the SDA press. We have seen and experienced the pain, fear, and misery of members trying to understand the true meaning of the gospel through the fog of Adventism” (Are Seventh-Day Adventists False Prophets?, pp. 2-3).

“[My wife] Carole’s family had an Adventist background similar to mine…..Carole had been taught never to question Adventism: Adventism was right, and one should never doubt it; for if you did, you were on the beginning rung of the ladder to hell. So like me, Carole had simply suppressed all questions regarding Adventism and lived carefully to its teachings” (p. 6).

“Evidences of fanaticism in the Ontario (CA) SDA school also contributed to my doubts. While I was moving toward an increasingly more evangelical stand, the pastor continued to teach an extremely right-wing form of perfectionism. I am convinced he kept his church in line through fear. Anyone who disagreed with his teachings was simply ‘frozen out’ of the local church. Several of the best members were driven out this way” (p. 8).

“In 1981 I accepted a position as principle of a church school in eastern PA, in what was supposedly a ‘gospel-oriented’ church. It was there that we began to realize how far the gospel had already taken us in our thinking and how rigid and fearful Adventism really makes people; for we found that our questions and statements aroused consternation and suspicion among church members” (p. 11).

TO BE CONTINUED………….

 

It means everything. He was no illiterate, untrustworthy, low life. Rather, in the estimation of the Whites and their immediate circle of ruling authorities he was considered among the best and brightest. The fact that, by God's grace, he saw the light and left to follow the true Christ speaks to his honesty and courage.

I challenge you to cite an historical proof of your ill-founded analogy which you so capriciously assert.

Of course he repudiated Adventism, thus the title of his expose. LOL

 

The Maori Adventist cultist fools no one on this board.

Of course he finds my challenge impossible to meet.

I challenged him and all other Adventists participating on this forum to announce, without equivocation, “I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am now justified and saved from my sins.”

Nor will he openly profess salvation is possible without 7th-day Sabbath-keeping.

As I said, You fool no one on this board.

You fool only yourself.

 

Part 16: Ellen White: Saint or Charlatan?

“You describe someone as a charlatan when they pretend to have skills or knowledge that they do not really possess” (Source).

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die (Deuteronomy 18:20).

“The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that God has given divine inspiration to Ellen G. White…… The messages that came through Ellen White were just as much the word of God as the messages that came through Isaiah or Ezekiel……. The purpose of Ellen White is to reveal more clearly the plan of salvation which is already contained in the Bible…… We are concerned here about the source, the originating point of her messages. Did they come from God, or did they come from her own opinions or the ideas of others? She expressly says that her messages come from God, that the originating point is God. So let us remember that her claim is that the messages she writes are God's messages, not her messages” (Source).

The above quote is that of Dennis Priebe, “a Seventh-day Adventist minister, with over 50 years experience as a pastor, a teacher, and seminar speaker. Eleven years were spent as a college professor at Pacific Union College, and over 30 years as a seminar speaker for Amazing Facts” (Source).

Thus, if he doesn’t speak authoritatively for the SDA church, no one does. His discourse on the divine inspiration of ‘Sister’ White is filled with quotes from her writings which give no doubt as to her view that her words are from God alone.

Can a Prophet of God Lie?

Like the false prophet, Joseph Smith, who claimed knowledge of moon men (source), Ellen White claimed knowledge of a 12-foot Adam and 11-foot Eve:

“And now God says to his Son, "Let us make man in our image." As Adam came forth from the hand of his Creator, he was of noble hight [sic], and of beautiful symmetry. He was more than twice as tall as men now living upon the earth, and was well proportioned. His features were perfect and beautiful. His complexion was neither white, nor sallow, but ruddy, glowing- with the rich tint of health. Eve was not quite as tall as Adam. Her head reached a little above his shoulders. She, too, was noble—perfect in symmetry, and very beautiful” (Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts 1864, 3:34; as cited by Adventist PhD candidate, Edwin Zackrison [source]).

Though the Lord had raised up scores of highly educated, brilliant theologians throughout the centuries, whose knowledge included Hebrew, Greek and Latin, as well as an in-depth grasp of history, and whose vast catalogue of writings are studied in colleges and seminaries worldwide, according to the SDA the world lacked a woman with a 3rd grade education to finally explain salvation and the Bible correctly.

Adventist Pastor Walter Rea Fired for Exposing the White Lie

The Adventist publication, Spectrum Magazine, has published a must-read article entitled, The Great Controversy Over Plagiary: The Last Interview of Walter Rea.

Adventist author, T. Joe Willey, writes, “While in Orlando, Florida, Rea was given a book published by Ellen White. It was titled Sketches from the Life of Paul, published in 1883. When he showed this book to a church member, he was told that the problem with the book was that it had been copied from another book with the same title. Rea began a comparison study and found some of the literary borrowing in this book unsettling.”

Previous to his discovery, Rea admitted, “I thought that Ellen G. White was divine, a voice from God, and everything that she wrote came straight from God. And I was no different than most other churchgoing Adventists.”

“Following his discovery, Rea researched deeper into the implications of the very familiarity of the words, chapter titles, illustrations, patterns of thought, even biblical texts out of context, found in Edersheim, Harris, Melville and other authors when compared with the ‘originality’ of White’s writings. Finally, it struck him. “At this point, I was so dumbfounded that I went home, closed the door to my study, sat at my desk and wept!”

Rea and Other Adventists Question the Character of ‘Sister’ White

“After contemplating what this all meant to him, he began to reflect (I should say with a certain sadness) on the ‘sheer recklessness of plagiarism by Ellen White while claiming to be a prophet of God and still appropriating the works of others to save time or to create a better article or book to increase her fame.’ Rea went on to elaborate. “She was asked at one point, when confronted about her copying, who had been harmed? Well, I suppose you could say that plagiarism could do no harm to anyone today because the copyrights are extinguished. But now, of course, it is not what has been copied that harms the church, but what the copying and her explicit and implicit denials reveal about the character of Mrs. White.”

Pastor Rea goes to the heart of the issue. It is not the character of a true child of God to deceive others in order to promote herself, let alone promote herself as God’s end time messenger, who speaks in His name.

Rather, it is the attribute of a child of the Devil, the father of lies (John 8:44).

It is the fulfilling of Christ’s warnings:
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ [i.e. ‘anointed of God’]; and shall deceive many (Matthew 24:4-5).

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:15-20).

An insightful comment written by an Adventist, re: This article on Plagiarism

“The Vatican has spent four billion covering up the pedophilia in the Catholic Church.

While not spending four billion, Adventism has spent much energy, effort, expense and excercise in trying to refute, deny, explain away, Ellen’s dishonest “borrowing” of other writers’ ideas.

Her emphatic denial that she ever used any material other than her own, except that obtained from Angels, which she then supposedly placed in quotation marks, reveals,her dishonesty.

Her children and grandchildren have been in deep denial that their ancestor had vociferously and vehemently denied any plagiarism.

More recently, new evidence has come forward, that in addition to her “borrowing”, her extensive entourage of “literary assistants” were heavy contributors to her prolific output.

So any current reading of her vast bibliography means that any given paragraph, phrase, or page, is SUSPECT-- was it her original output, or was it plagiarized, or was it penned by one of her “secretaries”?

Given this dubious record, it still astonishes me that our esteemed leader, often has more EGW quotes in his sermons than Biblical texts!

This deeply flawed woman remains Adventism’s “Virgin Mary” positioned high on her undeserved pedestal, while all other Adventist women, like Catholic women, are decidedly SECOND CLASS CITIZENS.

Adventism owes a huge debt to Walter Rea.

His prodigious computer-like mind, his prolific memorization of reams of EGW’s writings, enabled him, in a pre-internet era, to “connect the dots”.
From being an ardent admirer, acolyte and adherent of EGW, he was able to expose her as a cheat and a charlatan.

His reward? After years of faithful pastoring and service his legally earned pension and medical benefits were revoked.
A travesty for revealing TRUTH!” (Robin Vandermolen, January 6, 2017).

TO BE CONTINUED…………..

 

I take it your pseudonym is shorthand for NOTchristian?

You cannot support the assertion you so pompously made, so you deflect.