Heresy #1--Redefining the grace of salvation to include the works of the law
Seventh-day Adventism plays the same game in salvation as every other false movement of Christendom. They profess to teach salvation by grace through faith, but they redefine this in a way that is contrary to New Testament doctrine.
Though they often deny this, the Adventist denomination teaches that salvation is by grace plus law, faith plus works. Grace, according to Adventist theology, is the power and forgiveness God gives to enable a sinner to keep the law and to thereby build a holy character fit for Heaven. He who fails to build the right character by God’s grace will never see Heaven. Faith and works are the two oars by which the believer is propelled to glory.
Heresy #2--Sabbath-Keeping
Let us investigate exactly what Seventh-day Adventism teaches about the Sabbath. Following is a breakdown of these teachings from their own publications.
WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The Sabbath is eternally binding upon men from creation. Seventh-day Adventism says the Sabbath was made for mankind in general and was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Sabbath-keeping, therefore, is a sign of loyalty to God, the Creator.
Heresy #3--Soul Sleep
A general statement of the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of death is as follows:
"So when a man dies he does not live somewhere else. He is not in heaven, not in hell, not in purgatory. He is not alive at all, anywhere, in any condition whatsoever. He is dead. And to be dead does not mean to be alive. To be dead does not mean to go to heaven; it does not mean to go to hell; it does not mean to go to purgatory. Indeed, it does not mean to go anywhere at all. It means simply an end of life. ... Death is cessation of life, an absence of life, the exact opposite of life. So in death there is no life. The man does not live; the body does not live; the soul does not live; the spirit does not live; the mind does not live. Intelligence ends, consciousness ends, memory ends, knowledge ends, thought ends. All that has comprised the man ends" (When A Man Dies, p. 20).
The idea that man has conscious existence after death is said to be "the devil’s first lie."
Heresy #4--Annihilation of the Wicked
In the following excerpts, Adventist teachers define their doctrine of the final destiny of the lost. Ellen White speaks first.
"The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon. ... But those who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression ... covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. ... There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved" (The Great Controversy, pp. 470,477).
"...sinners will not live forever. The plain doctrine of the Bible is that the devil and all his works will be destroyed, utterly destroyed" (When A Man Dies, p. 58).
Heresy #5--Ellen White as a Prophetess and Inspired Commentator
WHAT DOES SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM BELIEVE ABOUT ELLEN WHITE?
1. Adventism believes Ellen White exercised the divine gift of prophecy and that she was raised up by God to guide the development of the SDA Movement. "...the church leaders from the first have accepted this heavenly light that God has caused to shine upon their pathway. One reason we have prospered is that we have had this divine guidance, which we have tried to follow faithfully. ... Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. Ellen G. White exercised the true prophetic gift. They believe that God graciously spoke to her in divine revelations, and that through her He sent inspired messages to His church" (Ellen G. White and the S.D.A. Church, p. 2).
Heresy #6--Investigative Judgment
The major tenets of the Adventist doctrine of Investigative Judgment are as follows:
1. In October 1844, Jesus Christ entered the heavenly holy of holies to begin investigative judgment of the records (deeds, thoughts, attitudes, etc.) of those who have professed salvation. "Attended by heavenly angels, our great High Priest enters the holy of holies and there appears in the presence of God to engage in the last acts of His ministration in behalf of man—to perform the work of investigative judgment and to make an atonement for all who are shown to be entitled to its benefits ... in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work. ... The books of record in heaven, in which the names and the deeds of men are registered, are to determine the decisions of the judgment. ... The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God ... every individual has a soul to save or to loose. Each has a case pending at the bar of God ... The intercession of Christ in man’s behalf in the sanctuary above is as essential to the plan of salvation as was His death upon the cross" (Ellen White, The Great Controversy, pp. 422-423).
Heresy #7--Misuse of the Mosaic Law
According to Adventist doctrine, the law works together with grace to justify the believer. Adventism teaches that God, through Jesus, gives a sinner grace to build a holy life after the model of the law. Salvation will be determined by how successful this life is built. While Adventists profess to believe in salvation by grace alone, theirs is a redefinition of biblical grace.
