Seventh Day Advents bring into their name and doctrine the sabbath which is the seventh day or Saturday. This is one of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament and was to be obeyed by the Jews when God recognized them. There was to be no work done on this day of any kind. The Jewish dispensation was done away with and replaced with the New Testament of which there is no mention of treating Saturday as a day of no work.
Their name implies and is a dead give away that they are a cult. They are another example of adding a practice of which is no reference to in the New Testament.
WILLIAM MILLER (1782 to 1849) a Baptist Lay Preacher.
Miller launched what he called the great second advent awakening or The Millerite Movement between 1831 and 1844. Based on his study of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to the earth some time between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Others within the movement calculated a specific date of October 22, 1844.
Thousands of Baptist and other prominent churches. were captured by his imagination of predictions of the Second Coming or Second Advent. Possibly as many as 50,000 followers believed in Miller’s chronological calculations and prepared themselves to welcome the Lord. When that time didn’t come about he Recalculated his prediction and moved to the Second Coming or Second Advent from March, 1843 to March, 1844, and then to October of that year.
These dates passed without nothing happening. After the “Disappointment of 1844” Miller’s following fell apart, with most of those who had looked to Christ returning went back to their respective churches. MILLER died in 1849.
The movement was kept alive in fragmented form by other disappointed followers. A few went back to their Bibles to find out why they had been disappointed. Several sects were formed under a broad heading of Adventism. Including a small group Seventh-Day Adventists, and various other groups with Adventist in their title. From this started the modern Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
Definition of Adventist and Seventh Day
Random House Dictionary:
The word “Adventists” is from the Latin advent (“coming”), and refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. “Seventh day” applies to Saturday, the seventh day of creation.
The Adventist movement for about 20 years consisted of many small loosely knit churches which interacted through James White’s periodical, The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. Among its most prominent members were Joseph Bates, James White, and Ellen G. White.
Ellen G White 1827 to 1915, became a central figure in the Seventh Day Adventist movement. Her fellow Adventists were convinced she possessed the gift of prophecy from her many visions and spiritual leadership.
The church was established in Battle Creek, Michigan, on May 21, 1863, with a small membership. Its current location is in Silver Spring, Maryland.
In the 1870s The Seventh Day Adventists denomination turned to revivals, and missionary work tripling its membership into the thousands and by 1880 Their present was being established beyond North America in the late 19th century.
Now it’s world wide. The Adventist Church adopted the Trinity, early in the 20th century and began to have an exchange of ideas and opinions with other Protestant groups toward the middle of the century. Its world wide membership now is in the millions.
An interesting side-note: The Branch Davidians a break off of the Seventh Day Adventists was started by Victor Houteff, a Bulgarian immigrant in Waco Texas in 1935. While a member of the Seventh Day Adventist he begun teaching views on certain passages in Revelation and was expelled by them.
Houteff put together a group in Waco Texas in 1942 and the sect named themselves Davidian Seventh Day Adventists. In 1955, Houteff died and his wife disbanded the sect in 1961.
Benjamin Roden with a few followers took over the group, but Roden died in 1978, leaving behind his wife and his son to lead the group. In 1987, David Koresh took over the leadership position and the tragedy in Waco Texas is now history.
Some Belief
- Sabbath (fundamental belief 20)—the Sabbath should be observed on the seventh day of the week, specifically, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
- Wholistic human nature (fundamental beliefs 26)—Humans are an indivisible unity of body, mind and spirit.
- They do not possess an immortal soul and there is no consciousness after death (commonly referred to as “soul sleep”).
- Conditional immortality (fundamental belief 27)—The wicked will not suffer eternal torment in hell, but instead will be permanently destroyed.
- Second Coming and End times (fundamental beliefs 25–28) —Jesus Christ will return visibly to earth after a “time of trouble”, during which the Sabbath will become a worldwide test. The second coming will be followed by a millennial reign of the saints in heaven.
- Note one of the theories of Revelation is called Premillennialism, Christ will return to earth for a thousand years. Adventist eschatology is based on the historicist method of prophetic interpretation.
- Random House Dictionary:
Historicist: a theory that history is determined by immutable laws and not by human agency.
- Adventists are known for presenting a “health message” that recommends vegetarianism. And expects adherence to the kosher laws in Leviticus 11. Obedience to these laws means abstinence from pork, shellfish, and other foods proscribed as “unclean”.
- The church discourages its members from the use of alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs.
- Some Adventists avoid coffee, tea, cola, and other beverages containing caffeine.
For more detailed information go to:
Wikipedia.org | Seventh Day Adventist History
BiblelineMinistries.org | THE CULT OF SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISM