"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."
(Colossians 2:14-17)
I've had the opportunity to explore the doctrines of Seventh-Day Adventism through several personal relationships with those who adhere to it and from visits to Seventh-Day Adventist gatherings. Seventh-Day Adventists with whom I've had contact have been invariably friendly and generous people who obviously love the Lord but have wandered into legalism in their zeal to serve him. Many Adventists are saved and sealed saints who were later led astray by the movement to observe the Sabbath and are like the believers to which Paul wrote, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Gal. 4:9-11). Others are longtime Adventists who, in their study of the Scriptures, are confronted with the gospel of grace and believe it but continue to observe the Sabbath. Then there are those Adventists who still need to hear and believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 3:28).
Recently, I ran across a manuscript written by Kerry B. Wynne, a former third generation Adventist, in association with William H. Hohmann, a former Worldwide Church of God (also Sabbatarean) member, "Sabbath Impossibilities: History of Adventism's Long War Against Truth, etc." In their compelling document, they present evidence for the fact that Seventh-Day Adventist leaders knew at least 40 years before 1888 that weekly Sabbath-keeping was one of the "ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us," that has been taken out of the way by Christ, who nailed it to his cross, completely blotting it out. They were also aware that contrary to their teaching, worship by Christians on a day other than the Sabbath began hundreds of years earlier than the formal establishment of the Roman Catholic Church, at whose door they lay blame for changing "times and seasons." Since that time, the authors insist, an ongoing effort has been made by Adventist leaders to prevent their members from learning this scriptural truth. Why? Money, for one thing. Adventism is an international, multi-million dollar industry. But can't they just give up the idea of Sabbath-keeping but still hold to their other doctrines? All of their distinctive doctrines regarding Bible prophecy and their central pillar doctrine of "the investigative judgment" are based on visions and messages reportedly received from the Lord by their founding prophetess, Ellen G. White, in the mid-1800's. If the legitimacy of her vision regarding the necessity for today's church to observe the weekly Sabbath is shattered, the rest of their peculiar doctrines will also fall like dominoes behind it!
It's been a source of wonder to me how the SDA church has existed for so long despite the fact that it's been proven that Mrs. White plagiarized much of the content of works she published, which number well over 5,000 items. Also, the number of failed prophecies which she made would certainly qualify her, according to God's test for a false prophet in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, as someone "deceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim. 3:13). Adventists, when confronted with these truths, will quickly insist that they don't consider White to be a prophet but that by using the Holy Scriptures, she pointed the church back to honoring the Lord by keeping his commandments.
As in all cases of cultish works-salvation doctrines being promulgated by various "Christian" groups, the answer lies in their failure to recognize which section of God's word is addressed specifically to the body of Christ today. Under God's grace, made known through his apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, we enjoy the liberty that only adult sons thoroughly equipped with grace doctrine have the authority to exercise. To return to Israel's law covenants with God is to foolishly bind ourselves with the cords of a performance system by which even Israel could not win God's approval. When we realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only person to ever win God's complete approval, and that by trusting in his shed blood, burial, and resurrection we are imputed with his perfect righteousness that cannot be improved upon by our own efforts, then we become truly free to serve him as ambassadors of his grace.
Seventh-Day Adventists and others who seek to serve God by keeping ordinances which have now been blotted out: you will find complete rest from all your labors in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done it all for us.
